In this sample of eighty consecutive admissions to the Centre-Neuro-Psycho- Pathologique (CNPP) of Kinshasa, 81% were given a DSM-III diagnosis. This demonstrates that the DSM-III is a useful tool for psychiatric research in developing sub-saharan Africa. Schizophrenia, schizophreniform psychoses, and affective disorders appeared in their familiar forms. Zairois patients tended to present with complaints of insomnia, agitation and pressured speech. The most striking observa tions were the relative paucity of depressed mood, self-reproach, and suicidal idea tion in patients with major depression. Four cases of acute transient psychosis were noted.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Washington D.C.: APA.
2.
Beiser, M., Ravel, J.L., Collomb, H. & Egelhoff, C. (1972) Assessing psychiatric disorder among the Serer of Senegal. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 154, 141-151.
3.
Binitie, A. (1975) A factor-analytical study of depression across cultures (African and European). BritishJournal of Psychiatry , 127, 559-563.
4.
German, G.A. (1972) Aspects of clinical psychiatry in sub-saharan Africa. BritishJournal of Psychiatry, 121, 461-479.
5.
Hanck, C., Ayuso Gutierrez, J.L. & Ramos Brieva, J.A. (1981) Clinical forms of depression in African and in Spanish cultural communities. Acta Psychiatria Belgica, 81, 437-443.
6.
Jablensky, A., Sartorius N., Gulbinat W. & Ernmerg, G. (1981) Characteristics of depressives contacting psychiatric services in four cultures; A report from the WHO collaborative study of the assessment of depressive disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica , 63, 367-383.
7.
Jilek W.G. & Jilek-Aall, L. (1970) Acute transient psychoses in Africans. Psychiatric Clinics (Basle ) 3, 337-364.
8.
Kleinman, A.M. (1977) Depression, somaticization and the "New cross-cultural psychiatry". Social Science and Medicine, 11, 3-10.
9.
Meggle, D. (1984) Le Dsm-III en Afrique à propos des états depressifs majeurs en Côte-D'Ivoire. Annales Medico Psychologiques, 142, 663-73.
10.
Neki, J.S. & Hauli, J.G. (1984) Psychiatry in East Africa. Current Psychiatric Therapies. Grune & Stratton, 243-248.
11.
Orley, J. & Wing, J.K. (1979) Psychiatric disorders in two African villages. Archives of General Psychiatry,36, 513-520.
12.
Prince, R. (1968) The changing picture of depressive syndromes in Africa; Is it fact or diagnostic fashion?Canadian Journal of African Studies, 1, 177-192.
13.
Singer, K. (1975) Depressive disorders from a transcultural perspective . Social Science and Medicine, 9, 289-301.
14.
Wig, N.N. (1983) DSM-III: A perspective from the third world. International Perspectives on DSM-III. Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric Press Inc.
15.
Wood, J.F. (1968) A half-century of growth in Ugandan psychiatry . In Hall, Langland (Eds): Ugandan Atlas of Disease Distribution. Kampala.
