The author grew up in Goa, a unique bicultural setting on the western coast of India. Goa came under Portuguese rule in 1510 AD and remained under the Portuguese until 1961 when it became part of India. The Indian and Portuguese cultures interacted in Goa and led the Goans to create an interesting blend in which elements of both cultures were made to reconcile. The author reviews his experiences in this setting and describes how his family background, his search for roots, and his exposure to two religions, two languages, and two cultures fostered his decision to study medicine, his passion for transcultural psychiatry, and eventual pursuit of an academic career in this field in the United States. Research and reflections are presented on the impact of colonization, migration, and acculturation, and the importance of the construct of demoralization.
Boerstler, H., & de Figueiredo, J.M. (1991). Prediction of use of psychiatric services: Application of the CART algorithm. Journal of Mental Health Administration, 18, 27-34.
2.
Boerstler, H., & de Figueiredo, J.M. (2003). Pathways of low-income psychiatric patients into outpatient psychiatric treatment. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1004-1007.
3.
Caplan, G. ( 1964). Principles of preventive psychiatry. New York, NY: Basic Books.
4.
Cassirer, E. ( 1944). An essay on man. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
5.
Cassirer, E. ( 1955a). Philosophie der symbolischen formen, eister teil: Die sprache. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer. Translated as The philosophy of symbolic forms, volume one: Language. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
6.
Cassirer, E. ( 1955b). Philosophie der symbolischen formen, zweiter teil: das mystische denken. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer. Translated as The philosophy of symbolic forms, volume two: Mythical thought. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
7.
Cassirer, E. ( 1957). Philosophie der symbolischen formen, dritter teil: phanomenologie der erkenntnis. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer. Translated as The philosophy of symbolic forms, volume three: The phenomenology of knowledge. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
8.
Cockram, C.A., Doros, G., & de Figueiredo, J.M. (2008, May). Depression and subjective incompetence as separate components of demoralization. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington, D.C. on May 6, 2008.
9.
Cockram, C.A., Doros, G., & de Figueiredo, J.M. (2009). Diagnosis and measurement of subjective incompetence, the clinical hallmark of demoralization. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 78, 312-345.
10.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 1963a). Goa pre-portuguesa. STVDIA Revista Semestral , 12, 145-259.
11.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 1963b). Goa pre-Portuguesa. STVDIA Revista Semestral , 13-14, 107-225.
12.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 1976). Interviewing in Goa: Methodological issues in the study of a bilingual culture. Social Science & Medicine, 10, 503-508.
13.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 1980). Some methodological remarks on transcultural interviewing on psychopathology. International Journal of Social Psychiatry , 26(4), 280-292.
14.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 1983a). Some issues in research on the epidemiology of demoralization . Comprehensive Psychiatry, 24(2), 154-157.
15.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 1983b). The law of sociocultural demoralization. Social Psychiatry, 18, 73-78.
16.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 1984). Ayurvedic medicine in Goa according to European sources in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Bulletin of History of Medicine, 58, 225-235.
17.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 1993). Depression and demoralization: Phenomenological differences and research perspectives. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 34(5), 308-311.
18.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 1995). Goan identity and cultural integration. In N. K. Wagle & G. Coelho (Eds.), Goa: Continuity and change. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto , Center for South Asian Studies.
19.
de Figueiredo, J.M. ( 2007). Editorial: Demoralization and psychotherapy: A tribute to Jerome D. Frank, MD, Ph.D. (1909-2005). Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 76(3), 129-133.
20.
de Figueiredo, J.M. (in press). Deconstructing demoralization: Subjective incompetence and distress in the face of adversity. In J. Frank & R. Alarcon (Eds.), The psychotherapy of hope: The legacy of persuasion and healing. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
21.
de Figueiredo, J.M., & Boerstler, H. ( 1988). The relationship of presenting complaints to the use of psychiatric services in a low-income group. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 145(9), 1145-1148.
22.
de Figueiredo, J.M., Boerstler, H., & O’Connell, L. (1991). Conditions not attributable to a mental disorder: An epidemiological study of family problems. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 780-783.
23.
de Figueiredo, J.M., Boerstler, H., & Doros, G. ( 2006). Treatment history versus clinical characteristics in the prediction of use of outpatient psychiatric services. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41(22), 130-139.
24.
de Figueiredo, J.M., Boerstler, H., & Doros, G. ( 2009). Failure of high-risk minority patients to show up for outpatient psychiatric treatment. International Journal of Mental Health, 38(2), 91-105.
25.
de Figueiredo, J.M., & Frank, J.D. ( 1982). Subjective incompetence, the clinical hallmark of demoralization. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 23, 353-363.
26.
de Figueiredo, J.M., & Lemkau, P.V. ( 1978). The prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms in a rapidly changing bilingual culture: An exploratory study. Social Psychiatry , 18, 125-133.
27.
de Figueiredo, J.M., & Lemkau, P.V. ( 1980). Psychiatric interviewing across cultures: Some problems and prospects. Social Psychiatry, 15, 117-121.
28.
Dohrenwend, B.P., & de Figueiredo, J.M. (1982). Remote and recent life events and psychopathology. Paper presented at a Symposium on Aging of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and at meetings of National Conference on Social Welfare and the Society for Life History Research in Psychopathology. University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio , April 6-8, 1978. In D. L. Rickes & B. S. Dohrenwend (Eds.), Origins of psychopathology: Problems in research and public policy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
29.
Dohrenwend, B.P., Shrout, P.E., Egri, G., & Mendelsohn, F.S. (1980). Non-specific psychological distress and other measures for use in the general population. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 1229-1236.
30.
Engel, G.L. ( 1967). A psychological setting of somatic disease: The ‘‘giving up-given up complex’’. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 60, 553-555.
31.
Engel, G.L. ( 1968). A life setting conducive to illness: The giving up-given up complex. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 32, 355-365.
32.
Fournier, J.C., DeRubeis, R.J., Hollon, S.D., Dimidjian, S., Amsterdam, J.D., Shelton, R.C., & Fawcett, J. ( 2010). Antidepressant drug effects and depression severity: A patient-level meta-analysis. Journal of the American Medical Association, 303(1), 47-53.
33.
Frank, J.D. ( 1968). Sanity and survival: Psychological aspects of war and peace. New York, NY: Random House .
34.
Frank, J.D., & Frank, J.B. ( 1991). Persuasion and healing: A comparative study of psychotherapy . Baltimore, MD and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
35.
Gruenberg, E.M. ( 1974). The social breakdown syndrome and its prevention. In G. Caplan (Ed.), American handbook of psychiatry (pp. 697-711). New York, NY: Basic Books.
36.
Gurland, B., Cross, P., de Figueiredo, J.M., Shanon, M., Mann, A.H., Jenkins, R. . . . , & Deming, W.E. (1979). A cross-national comparison of the institutionalized elderly in the cities of New York and London. Psychological Medicine, 9(4), 781-788.
37.
Hollingshead, A.B., & Redlich, F.C. ( 1958). Social class and mental illness. New York, NY: Wiley.
38.
Jaspers, K. ( 1997). General psychopathology. Translated by J. Hoenig & M. W. Hamilton, with an introduction by P. R. McHugh, MD. Vols. I and II. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
39.
Jimenez, R.G., & de Figueiredo, J.M. (1994). Issues in the psychiatric care of Hispanic American elders. Ethnic minority elderly: A task force report of the American Psychiatric Association. Washington, DC : American Psychiatric Association.
40.
Kelly, G.A. ( 1955). The psychology of personal constructs (Vol. 2). New York, NY: Norton.
41.
Leighton, A. ( 1959). My name is legion: Foundations for a theory of man in relation to culture. New York, NY: Basic Books.
42.
Leighton, D.C., Harding, J.S., Macklin, D.B., Macmillan, A.M., & Leighton, A.H. (1963). The character of danger: The Stirling County study of psychiatric disorder and sociocultural environment . New York, NY: Basic Books.
43.
McHugh, P.R., & Slavney, P.R. ( 1998). The perspectives of psychiatry (2nd edn.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
44.
Pissurlencar, P. ( 1952). Tombo de Goa, Bardez e Salcete por Francisco Paes. Bastora, Goa: Tipografia Rangel.
45.
von Uexkull, J. ( 1957). Strteifzuge durch die Umwelten von Tieren und Menschen . Translated as ‘‘A stroll through the worlds of animals and men: A picture book of invisible worlds’’. In C. H. Schiller (Ed. and Trans.), Instinctive behavior: The development of a modern concept (pp. 5-80). New York, NY: International Universities Press.
