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A Study of Mental Illness in Asians, West Indians and Africans Living in Manchester

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

L. Carpenter
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The University Hospital of South Manchester, West Didsbury, Manchester M20 8LR
I. F. Brockington
Affiliation:
Prestwich Hospital, Prestwich, Manchester M25 7BL

Summary

First admission rates have been determined for immigrants living in Manchester. They show that immigrants as a whole had about twice the rate of British-born subjects, but that various subgroups had rates still higher, including those aged 35–44 and Asian women. According to hospital diagnoses the psychiatric conditions responsible for these increased rates are schizophrenia (in all groups) and neuroses and personality disorders (in the Asians). A case note study of the psychopathology showed, however, that the most characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia were not more common in the immigrants. It is concluded that most of the immigrants are suffering from paranoid psychoses, not schizophrenia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1980 

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