A wide range of expressions describing feelings and emotions is identifiable in the indigenous Vietnamese literature. The majority of Vietnamese expressions for common emotional states appear to have semantic equivalents in western psychology. The present overview draws on the lay and medical literature to provide examples of such expressions and descriptions. There does not appear to be evidence of a comprehensive psychiatric typology in the Vietnamese medical literature, although it is unclear to what extent the framework of Chinese medicine has influenced Vietnamese practitioners. Traditional Vietnamese health-care services, including those for mental-health problems, are eclectic, deriving their principles from cosmology, metaphysics and supernatural belief systems inter alia. The holistic notion of physical and mental health based on the state of harmony of the individual within the cosmos may be incompatible with the reductionistic principles underlying western taxonomies. Thus, the extent to which indigenous concepts of mental-ill-health influence Vietnamese immigrants’ choices about the utilization of either traditional or mainstream mental-health services in western countries needs further investigation.
American Psychiatric Association . (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders(4th ed.). Washington: American Psychiatric Association Press.
2.
Australian Bureau of Statistics . (1995). Vietnamese community profile from 1991 census. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
3.
Dao, V. H. (1958). Phong tuc mien Nam qua may van ca dao(Southern traditions in proverbial expressions). Saigon, Vietnam: Truong Tin Xuat Ban.
4.
Drennan, G. , Levett, A., & Swartz, L. (1991). Hidden dimensions of power and resistance in the translation process: A South African study. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 14, 361–381.
5.
Flaskerud, J. H. , & Nguyen, T. A. (1988). Mental health needs of Vietnamese refugees. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 39(4), 435–437.
6.
Gian, V., & Nguyen, H. L. (1992). Dai cuong triet hoc Trung Quoc(An overview of Chinese philosophies), Volumes 1 & 2. Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam: Nha Xuat Ban Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh.
7.
Holzer, C. , Swanson, J., Huynh, M., Ganju, V., Jono, R., & Le, C. (1989). Mental health among the Texas Vietnamese. Psychiatric disorder among the Vietnamese origin population. In Texas: A diagnostic survey of 100 households in Harris and Galveston Counties. Final report to the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. Texas: University of Texas Medical Research Branch.
8.
Jenkins, J. H. , Kleinman, A., & Good, B. J. (1991). Cross-cultural studies of depression. In J. Becker & A. Kleinman (Eds.), Psychosocial aspects of depression(pp. 67–99). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
9.
Kinzie, J. D. , Manson, S. M., Vinh, D. T., Tolan, N. T., Anh, B., & Pho, T. N. (1982). Development and validation of a Vietnamese language depression rating scale. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139(10), 1276–1281.
10.
Kleinman, A. (1982). Neurasthenia and depression: a study of somatisation and culture in China. Cultural Medicine and Psychiatry, 6, 177–190.
11.
Kleinman, A. (1986). Social origins of distress and disease. London: Yale University Press.
12.
Kleinman, A. (1988). The illness narratives: Suffering, healing, and the human conditions. New York: Basic Books.
13.
Liebkind, K. (1993). Self-report ethnic identity, depression, and anxiety among young Vietnamese refugees and their parents. Journal of Refugee Studies, 6(1), 25–39.
14.
Lin, K. , Tazuma, L., & Masuda, M. (1979). Adaptational problems of Vietnamese refugees: 1. Health and mental health status. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 955–961.
15.
Lin, K. M. (1981). Traditional medical beliefs and their relevance for mental illness and psychiatry. In A. Kleinman, & Lin Tsung-Yi (Eds.), Normal and abnormal behavior in Chinese culture(pp. 95–114). London: D. Reidel.
16.
Lutz, C. (1985). Depression and the translation of emotional worlds. In A. Kleinman & J. B. Good (Eds)., Culture and depression: studies in the anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry of affect and disorder(pp. 63–100). Los Angeles: University of California Press.
17.
Marciocia, G. (1989). The foundations of Chinese medicine: A comprehensive text for acupuncturists and herbalists. Sydney, Australia: Churchill Livingstone.
18.
Marsella A. J. (1979). Cross-cultural studies of mental disorders. In A. J. Marsella, R. Tharp & T. Cibirowski (Eds.), Perspective on cross-cultural psychology. New York: Academic Press.
19.
McDonald, R. (1992). Immigration and mental health in Australia. Migration Action, XIV(1), 20–25.
20.
Mollica, R. F. , & Lavelle, J. P. (1987). Southeast Asian refugees. In L. Comas-Diaz & E. H. Ezra (Eds.), Clinical practice in cross-cultural mental health(pp. 262–302). New York: John Wiley & Son.
21.
Ngo, T. T. (1991). Dai cuong triet hoc Trung Quoc(An overview of Chinese Philosophies) (2nd ed.). Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam: Nha Xuat Ban Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh.
22.
Nguyen, D. (1962). Kim Van Kieu. In Le Xuan Thuy (Ed.), Kim Van Kieu [Kieu’s adventure], English translation. Saigon, Vietnam: Dai Nam.
23.
Nguyen, S. D. (1982). Psychiatric and psychosomatic problems among the South East Asian refugees. Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa, 7, 163–172.
24.
Nguyen, T. Q., & Nguyen, M. H. (1990). Tu Dien Dong Y Hoc Co Truyen(Eastern traditional medicine dictionary). Ha Noi, Vietnam: Nha Xuat Ban Khoa Hoc va Ky Thuat.
25.
Nguyen, V. M. (1995). Hai Thuong Lan Ong: Sach thuoc Viet Nam(Hai Thuong Lan Ong: Vietnamese medical text). Los Alamitos, CA: Xuan Thu.
26.
Parsons C. D. , & Wakeley, P. (1991). Idioms of distress: somatic responses to distress in everyday life. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 15, 111–132.
27.
Phan, K. B. (1960). Viet Nam phong tuc: Bo quoc su(Vietnamese culture and customs, contribution a l’histoire d’Annam) (1913–1914). Los Alamitos, CA: Xuan Thu.
28.
Phan, T. T. (1993). Needs for mental health services of the mentally ill Vietnamese and their families: Thematic analysis. New South Wales, Australia: Banks House Customer Focus Pathfinder Project, Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital.
29.
Phan, T. T. , & Silove, D. (1997). The influence of culture on psychiatric assessment: The Vietnamese refugees as a case example. Psychiatric Services, 48(1), 86–90.
30.
Ross, J. (1985). Zang Fu: The organ systems of traditional Chinese medicine(2nd ed.). Sydney, Australia: Churchill Livingstone.
31.
Steel, Z. P. , McDonald, R., & Hornsey, J. (1996). NSW hospitalisation and community management of NESB migrants with mental disorders. In K. Kellehear, M. Teesson, J. Farhall, et al. (Eds.), Prevention, partnership, integration: Meeting the challenges. Sydney, Australia: Ian Liddell, Pty.
32.
Toan Anh (1965). Phong tuc Viet Nam(Vietnamese Culture). Saigon, Vietnam: Van Hoa.
33.
Toan Anh (1967a). Hoi he dinh dam(Festivals and Ceremonies). Saigon, Vietnam: Van Hoa.
34.
Toan Anh (1967b). Nep cu – Tin nguong, Quyen Mot(Traditional life-styles and religions, Vol. 1). Saigon, Vietnam: Van Hoa.
35.
Tran, D. (1990). Van hoa Viet Nam 1989–1995 (Vietnamese culture and civilisation 1989–1995 Synthesis). Saigon, Vietnam: Van Hoa.
36.
Tran, M. T. (1980). Indochinese patients: Cultural aspects of the medical and psychiatric care of Indochinese refugees. Falls Church, VA: Action for South East Asians.
37.
Van Duesen, J. M. (1982). Health and mental health studies of Indochinese refugees: A literature overview. Medical Anthropology, 6, 231–252.
38.
Zheng, Y. P. , Lin, K. M., Takeuchi, D., Kurasaki, K. S., Wang, Y. & Cheung, F.An epidemiological study of neurasthenia in Chinese–Americans in Los Angeles. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 38(5), 249–259.
