Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:29:32.756Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Depressive Illness in Jews and Non-Jews

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

S. J. M. Fernando
S. J. M. Fernando*
Affiliation:
Runwell Hospital, Wickford, Essex
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Depressive illness is a major medical problem among psychiatric out-patients (Davies, 1964). Most of the recent investigations of depression have been related to the use of antidepressive drugs and electroplexy, but a deeper understanding of the condition quite apart from the efficacy of treatment is necessary (Lewis, 1964). The importance of cultural factors in mental illness is well recognized (Myers and Roberts, 1959), but their study has been neglected in Britain in spite of the variety of ethnic groups in many British cities, especially London. Many of the cultural groups in London consist of recent immigrants in whom the factors connected with immigration are difficult to separate from cultural influences. However, Anglo-Jews form a long established though distinct group which has been fully accepted in Britain for over a hundred years (Roth, 1964). They are predominantly British-born and English-speaking and number about 450,000, more than half of these living in London (Brotman, 1964). One of the older areas of settlement is the East End of London, but with economic advancement there has been a drift away from there to better class areas (Krausz, 1964). It was felt that a cross-cultural study in the East End of London comparing Jewish and non-Jewish patients suffering from depression might provide some insight into intercultural differences as well as the dynamics of depressive illness.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 112 , Issue 491 , October 1966 , pp. 991 - 996
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1966 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrabee, P., and von Mering, O. (1955). “Ethnic variations in mental stress in families with psychotic children.” In: Mental Health and Mental Disorder (ed. Rose, A. M.). New York.Google Scholar
Brown, F. (1936). “The bodily complaint—a study of hypochondriasis.” J. ment. Sci., 82, 295—359.Google Scholar
Brotman, A. G. (1964). “Jewish communal organization.” In: Jewish Life in Modern Britain (ed. Gould, J. and Esh, S.). London.Google Scholar
Carothers, J. C. (1953). The African Mind in Health and Disease. Geneva.Google Scholar
Clein, L. (1964). Personal communication.Google Scholar
Creasey, M. A. (1959). “Some criticisms of factor analysis with suggestions for alternative methods.” J. ment. Sci., 105, 755—761.Google Scholar
Davies, E. Beresford (1964). “Some variations of depression and their treatment.” In: Depression. Proceedings of Symposium held at Cambridge, 22—26. Sept. 1959 (ed. Beresford Davies, E.) Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ewalt, J. R. (1960). “Detection of depression in general medical practice.” In: Depression and Anti-depressant Drugs (ed. Rogers, Daniel M.). Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A., and Caine, T. M. (1959). “The assessment of some symptoms and signs of depression in women.” J. ment. Sci., 105, 182—189.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A., (1965). “The significance of intra-individual diagnostic levels.” Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 761—768.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A., Caine, T. M., and Creasey, M. A. (1960). “Aspects of extra- and intro-punitive expression in mental illness.” J. ment. Sci., 106, 599—610.Google Scholar
Freed, E. X. (1965). “Ethnic identification of hospitalized Jewish psychiatric patients.” Int. J. soc. Psychiat., 21, 110—115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, J. A. (1922). “Incidence of insanity among Jews.” Ment. Hyg., 6, 598—622.Google Scholar
Halevi, H. S. (1963). “Frequency of mental illness among Jews in Israel.” Int. J. soc. Psychiat., 9, 268—82.Google Scholar
Halpern, L. (1938). “Some data of the psychic morbidity of Jews and Arabs in Palestine.” Amer. J. Psychiat., 94, 1215—1222.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960). “A rating scale for depression.” J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat., 23, 56—62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hes, J. P. (1960). “Manic-depressive illness in Israel.” Amer. J. Psychiat., 116, 1082—1086.Google Scholar
Henderson, D. K., and Gillespie, R. D. (1950). A Textbook of Psychiatry. 7th ed. London.Google Scholar
Hyde, R. W., and Chisholm, R. M. (1944). “Studies in medical sociology, III. The relation of mental disorders to race and nationality.” New Eng. J. Med., 231, 612—618.Google Scholar
Kenyon, R. E. (1964). “Hypochondriasis: a clinical study.” Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 478—488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krausz, E. (1964). “The economic social structure of Anglo-Jewry.” In: Jewish Life in Modern Britain (eds. Gould, J. and Esh, S.). London.Google Scholar
Lewis, Sir A. (1964). “Opening lecture—General review of depressive conditions.” In: Depression. Proceedings of Symposium held at Cambridge, 22—26 Sept. 1959 (ed. Beresford Davies, E.), Cambridge.Google Scholar
LeVinson, B. M. (1963). “Some research findings with Jewish subjects of traditional background.” Ment. Hyg. (N.Y.), 47, 129—134.Google Scholar
Loewenstein, R. M. (1951). Christians and Jews. A Psychoanalytic Study. New York.Google Scholar
Malzberg, B. (1930). “The prevalence of mental disease among Jews.” Ment. Hyg. (N.Y.), 14, 926—946.Google Scholar
Malzberg, B. (1931). “Mental disease among Jews.” Ment. Hyg. (N.Y.), 15,766–774 Google Scholar
Malzberg, B. (1962). “The distribution of mental disease according to religious affiliation in New York State 1949—1951.” Ment. Hyg. (N.Y.), 46, 510—22.Google Scholar
Myers, J. K., and Roberts, B. H. (1959). Family and Class Dynamics in Mental Illness. New York.Google Scholar
Myerson, A. (1920). “The nervousness of the Jew.” Ment. Hyg. (N.Y.) 4, 65—72.Google Scholar
Rinder, I. D. (1963). “Mental health of Jewish urbanites. A review of literature and predictions.” Int. J. soc. Psychiat., 9, 104—109.Google Scholar
Roberts, B. H., and Myers, J. K. (1954). “Religion, national origin, immigration and mental illness.” Amer. J. Psychiat., 110, 759—864.Google Scholar
Roth, C. (1964). “The Anglo-Jewish community in the context of world Jewry.” In: Jewish Life in Modern Britain, (ed. Gould, J. and Esh, S.). London.Google Scholar
Rosanoff, A. J. (1944). Manual of Psychiatry and Mental Hygiene. 7th ed. New York.Google Scholar
Rosenzweig, S. (1945). “The picture association method and its application in a study of reaction to frustration.” J. Personality, 14, 3—23.Google Scholar
Sanua, V. (1959). “Differences in personality adjustment among different generations of American Jews and non-Jews.” In: Culture and Menial Health (ed. Opler, M. K.). New York.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.