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Severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients: some social, demographic and service factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Glynn Harrison ,
Anthony Holton ,
David Neilson ,
David Owens ,
Daphne Boot  and
John Cooper
Glynn Harrison*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
Anthony Holton
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
David Neilson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
David Owens
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
Daphne Boot
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
John Cooper
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Glynn Harrison, Academic Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham NG7 2UH.
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Synopsis

Forty-two consecutively identified Afro-Caribbean patients with a first episode of psychosis were compared with a similar group of non-Caribbean patients. A number of differences emerged, although the same proportion of patients in each group had symptoms for 6 months or more prior to psychiatric contact. Afro-Caribbean patients showed greater delay in seeking help, more ‘disturbance’ later in the course of their illness and were more likely to be admitted compulsorily. The social geography of the two groups suggests that the high rates of schizophrenia and related psychoses that we previously reported cannot be explained simply by differences in area of residence at the time of presentation.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , August 1989 , pp. 683 - 696
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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