Debating the first principles of transcultural psychiatry

跨文化精神病学是精神病学的一部分，涉及精神疾病的病因，诊断和治疗中的文化因素。它也可以被称为“文化精神病学”或“跨文化精神病学”。这是一个领域，医学科学和人文科学（特别是人类学）自战后时期合作，它的重要性越来越大，因为通过全球化的力量，如移民和大众媒体的文化的相遇，扩散和融合。该项目培养对跨文化精神病学的首要原则的批判性反思，在这个领域中，文化以及大脑被理解为对理解和治疗精神疾病至关重要。项目合作者将反思跨文化精神病学理论中的一些基本问题。例如，西方精神病学文化的期望塑造了西欧和北美背景下的精神疾病的形状吗？为什么某些类型的行为或经历（例如，听到声音，看到死去的亲人）在某些文化背景下被理解为无害，而在其他文化背景下被理解为精神障碍的迹象或症状？如果不寻常或奇特的行为被理解为特定文化的正常或健康，那么精神病学是否也参与了当代认同政治，其中文化差异得到承认和验证？该项目将在来自不同机构和学科的许多临床和学术合作者中进行。他们将通过一个博客中的在线论坛进行辩论，并鼓励他们也贡献内容。进一步的反思将在两个面对面的研讨会活动中进行，合作者将有机会亲自见面，做演讲（可能是播客），并进行现场讨论。学术界和临床界以及广大公众将通过博客和网站以及与其他研究和知识交流活动的协同作用了解该项目。希望在论坛和研讨会上提出的反思性问题不仅会影响研究，而且会影响不同文化背景下的精神保健实践，不仅包括非西方文化，还包括西方文化中的亚文化（例如宗教或种族）。

Transcultural psychiatry is the part of psychiatry concerned with cultural factors in the cause, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness. It may also be known as "cultural psychiatry" or "cross-cultural psychiatry". It is a field in which medical science and the humanities (particularly anthropology) have collaborated since the post-war period, and it is growing in importance because of the encounter, diffusion, and mingling of cultures through globalising forces such as migration and the mass media. This project cultivates critical reflection upon the first principles of transcultural psychiatry, a field in which culture, as well as the brain, is understood as essential to the understanding and treatment of mental illness. The project collaborators will reflect upon a number of fundamental questions in the theory of transcultural psychiatry. For instance, do the expectations of Western psychiatric culture mould the shape of mental illness in Western European and North American contexts? Why are certain kinds of behaviour or experience (for example, hearing voices, seeing dead loved ones) understood as harmless in certain culture contexts, and as a sign or symptom of mental disorder in others? If unusual or peculiar behaviour is understood as normal or healthy for a particular culture, then is psychiatry also taking part in the contemporary politics of identity, in which cultural difference is recognised and validated? The project will be conducted amongst a number of clinical and academic collaborators, from a variety of institutions and disciplines. They will debate via an on-line forum hosted within a blog, to which they will be encouraged to also contribute content. Further reflection will take place at two face-to-face workshop events, where the collaborators will have a chance to meet in person, make presentations (which may be podcasted), and engage in live discussion. The academic and clinical community, and the wider public, will learn about the project via the blog and website, and through synergies with other research and knowledge exchange initiatives. It is hoped that reflective issues developed in the forum and workshops will impact not only research, but also the practice of mental healthcare in diverse cultural contexts, including not only non-Western cultures, but also subcultures (for example, of religion or ethnicity) within Western culture.