Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T05:05:40.889Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Management of First Episode Psychotic Illness in Afro-Caribbean Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Eric Y. H. Chen ,
Glynn Harrison  and
Penny J. Standen
Eric Y. H. Chen*
Affiliation:
Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge; formerly Registrar in Psychiatry, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham
Glynn Harrison
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychiatry, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham
Penny J. Standen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham
*
∗Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge, CB1 5EF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We studied retrospectively a consecutive series of 40 Afro-Caribbean patients and compared them with 40 non-Caribbean patients matched for age, sex, and diagnosis. There was no overall difference in initial or cumulative doses of neuroleptic medication in the early treatment of psychosis. However, a small subgroup of Afro-Caribbean patients received higher peak dosages. Clearly recorded episodes of behavioural disturbance were more frequent in Afro-Caribbean patients generally. They were more likely to be admitted compulsorily, discharged earlier, and prescribed depot medication.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 158 , Issue 4 , April 1991 , pp. 517 - 522
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1991 

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

Adams, G. L., Dworkin, R. J. & Rosenberg, S. D. (1984) Diagnosis and pharmacotherapy issues in the care of hispanics in the public sector. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 970–974.Google Scholar
Cole, J. & Pilisuk, M. (1976) Differences in the provision of mental health service by race. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 46, 519–525.Google Scholar
Cooper, J. E., Goodheah, D., Craig, T., et al (1987) The incidence of schizophrenia in Nottingham. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 619–626.Google Scholar
Curry, S. H., Marshall, J. H. L., Davis, J. M., et al (1970) Chlorpromazine plasma levels and effects. Archives of General Psychiatry, 22, 289–296.Google Scholar
Davis, J. M. (1974) Dose equivalence of the anti-psychotic drugs. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 11, 65–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, J. M., & Garver, D. L. (1978) Neuroleptics: clinical use in psychiatry. In Handbook of Psychopharmacology . Vol. 10. Neuroleptics and Schizophrenia (eds L. L. Iversen, & S. D. Iversen). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
El-Youself, M. K. & Manier, D. H. (1974) Tricyclic antidepressants and phenothiazines. Journal of American Medical Association, 229, 1419.Google Scholar
Gardos, G. & Cole, J. O. (1978) Maintenance antipsychotic therapy: for whom and how long? In Psychopharmacology: A Generation of Progress (eds M. A. Lipton, A. DiMascio & K. F. Killam). Raven Press: New York.Google Scholar
Glover, G. & Malcolm, G. (1988) The prevalence of neuroleptic treatment among West Indians and Asians in the London borough of Newham. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 23, 281–284.Google Scholar
Grammer, J. L. & Rolfe, B. (1972) Interaction of imipramine and chlorpromazine in man. Psychopharmacologica, 26 (suppl), 80.Google Scholar
Harrison, G., Ineichen, B., Smith, J., et al (1984) Psychiatric hospital admissions in Bristol II: social and clinical aspects of compulsory admission. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 605–611.Google Scholar
Harrison, G., Owens, D., Holton, A., et al (1988) A prospective study of severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients. Psychological Medicine, 18, 643–657.Google Scholar
Harrison, G., Holton, A., Neilson, D., et al (1989) Severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients: some social, demographic and service factors. Psychological Medicine, 19, 683–696.Google Scholar
Hirsch, S. R. (1982) Medication and physical treatment of schizophrenia. In Handbook of Psychiatry (3rd edn) (edited by J. K. Wing & L. Wing). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hirsch, S. R., Gaind, R., Rohde, P. D., et al (1973) Outpatient maintenance of chronic schizophrenic patients with long-acting fluphenazine: double-blind placebo trial. British Medical Journal, i, 633–637.Google Scholar
Ineichen, B., Harrison, G. & Morgan, H. G. (1984) Psychiatric hospital admissions in Bristol. 1. Geographical and ethnic factors. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 600–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Littlewood, R. & Cross, C. (1980) Ethnic minorities and psychiatric services. Sociology of Health and Illness, 2, 194–201.Google Scholar
Littlewood, R. & Lipsedge, M. (1982) Aliens and Alienists: Ethnic Minorities and Psychiatry. Middlesex: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Littlewood, R. & Lipsedge, M. (1988) Psychiatric illness among British Afro-Caribbeans. British Medical Journal, 296, 950.Google Scholar
London, M. (1986) Mental illness among immigrant minorities in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 265.Google Scholar
McGovern, D. & Cope, R. V. (1987) The compulsory detention of males of different ethnic groups, with special reference to offender patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 502–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nie, N. H., Hull, H. C., Jenkins, J. G., et al (1975) SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Second Edition). New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Rwegellera, G. G. C. (1980) Differential use of psychiatric services by West Indians, West Africans, and English in London. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 428–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sartorius, N., Jablensky, A., Korten, A., et al (1986) Early manifestations and first-contact incidence of schizophrenia in different cultures. Psychological Medicine, 16, 909–928.Google Scholar
Singh, M. & Smith, J. M. (1973) Reversal of some therapeutic effects of an antipsychotic agent by an antiparkinsonian drug. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 157, 50.Google Scholar
Thomas, A. & Sillen, S. (1972) Racism and Psychiatry. New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms: an Instruction Manual for the PSE and Catego Program. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classificaton in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.