Debating the first principles of transcultural psychiatry

跨文化精神病学是精神病学的一部分，关注精神疾病的病因、诊断和治疗中的文化因素。它也被称为“文化精神病学”或“跨文化精神病学”。这是一个自战后以来医学和人文学科（特别是人类学）合作的领域，由于移民和大众传媒等全球化力量的文化相遇、传播和融合，它的重要性日益增加。这个项目培养了对跨文化精神病学第一原则的批判性反思，在这个领域中，文化和大脑被认为是理解和治疗精神疾病的关键。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是否塑造了西欧和北美背景下精神疾病的形态？为什么某些行为或经历（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，而在另一些文化背景下被理解为精神障碍的迹象或症状？如果不寻常或特殊的行为在特定文化中被理解为正常或健康，那么精神病学是否也参与了当代的身份政治，在这种政治中，文化差异得到了承认和验证？该项目将由来自不同机构和学科的临床和学术合作者进行。他们将通过博客内的在线论坛进行辩论，并鼓励他们提供内容。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），并参与现场讨论。学术界和临床界以及广大公众将通过博客和网站，以及通过与其他研究和知识交流计划的协同作用，了解该计划。希望论坛和讲习班中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.