Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T15:27:32.410Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychiatry in the Commonwealth Caribbean

A brief historical overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Frederick W. Hickling
Frederick W. Hickling*
Affiliation:
23 Connolley Avenue, Kingston, Jamaica
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Treatment of the mentally ill by the Aboriginal Awaraks of Jamaica and the other Caribbean islands was first described by a Spanish monk in 1540: ‘Lunatics’ who were called ‘mind riven’ were treated in the community with salvent herbs, which were blended with food and left to hang on fruit trees for those who wandered, and by the administration of unguents and lavings while singing. This record indicates that the mentally ill were treated by the indigenous Indians without restraints, and with rudimentary attempts at pharmacology and cultural therapies. But this enlightened but primitive mental health system was destroyed with the advent of the Spanish conquerors who, according to Las Casas, “in about eight to forty years have unjustly put to death about twelve million Indians without distinction of quality, sex or age”.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the Royal College of Psychiatrists , Volume 12 , Issue 10 , October 1988 , pp. 434 - 436
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988

References

1. Patterson, O. (1967) The Sociology of Slavery. An Analysis of the Origins, Development and the Structure of Negro Slave Society in Jamaica. London: Granada.Google Scholar
2. Beaubrun, M. H. Bannister, P., Lewis, L. F., Mahy, G., Roves, K. C., Smith, P., Wisenger, Z. (1976) The history of psychiatry in the West Indies. In History of World Psychiatry. (Ed. Howells, G.) New York: Brunnel/Mazel.Google Scholar
3. Brathwaite, E. (1971) The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica 1770–1820. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
4. Lewis, L. F. E. (1979) Power and the mental health professional team Report on the Twelfth Bienniel Conference of the Federation for Mental Health. pp. 17–21.Google Scholar
5. Beaubrun, M. H. (1968) A pilot project for the West Indies. In Community Mental Health – An International Perspective. (Eds Williams, and Ozarin, .) San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Google Scholar
6. Ottey, F. (1973) A psychiatric service for Eastern Jamaica. Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine (Psychiatry): University of the West Indies.Google Scholar
7. Mahy, G. (1973) An initial comparison of patient group at a mental hospital and a new psychiatric unit. Newsletter of the Caribbean Psychiatric Association, 4, 26.Google Scholar
8. Jurgensen, A. M. (1983) A community mental health service for Antigua. Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine (Psychiatry): University of the West Indies.Google Scholar
9. Beaubrun, M. H. (1984) The problem of alcohol in the Commonwealth Caribbean. West Indies Medical Journal, 33, 1–2.Google Scholar
10. Hickling, F. W. (1974) The establishment of a rehabilitation service at Bellevue Mental Hospital, Jamaica, and an analysis of the first six months of that service. Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine, University of the West Indies.Google Scholar
11. Hickling, F. W. (1987) Politics and the psychotherapeutic context. In Clinical Practice in Cross Cultural Mental Health. (Eds Comas-Diaz, L. & Griffith, E. E. N.) New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.