The DOI matches its Crossref record; 45 of the 45 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Culture-bound syndromes, idioms of distress, and cultural concepts of distress: New directions for an old concept in psychological anthropology
Open accessAbstract
This issue of Transcultural Psychiatry showcases some recent work on idioms of distress – the latest in a long line of anthropological research concerned with cross-cultural concepts and experiences of distress. Mark Nichter’s (1981) seminal paper introducing idioms of distress has become a cynosure for psychological anthropology and transcultural psychiatry. A growing body of work has since accumulated; however, the last time a collection of such research was brought together was the 2010 publication of a special issue in the journal Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry organized by Devon Hinton and Roberto Lewis-Fernández. In the decade since, new questions have arisen about the boundaries and applications of idioms of distress research. In this introduction, we provide a brief history of work on idioms of distress and related concepts. Then, we introduce several major themes explored by the papers in this special issue.
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“Furthermore, the imposition of Western conceptualizations of mental illness on non-Western cultures has been critiqued for perpetuating paternalistic practices and excluding local cosmologies, highlighting the need for emic research approaches that recognize non-Western idioms of distress (Fabian et al., 2018; Kaiser & Weaver, 2019).”
From Developing and validating the Sierra Leone perinatal psychological distress scale through an emic-etic approach (2025) · cites this paper as Kaiser & Weaver, 2019
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Citations
Cites
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
American Psychiatric Association (2013) · doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596 · Cited by 116,369
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)
Hu, R. J. (2003) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b0-12-226870-9/01070-4 · Cited by 9,168
The illness narratives: suffering, healing, and the human condition
Kleinman, A. (1988) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.26-0340 · Cited by 3,568
Depression, somatization and the “new cross-cultural psychiatry”
Kleinman, A. M. (1977) · Social Science & Medicine (1967) · doi:10.1016/0037-7856(77)90138-x · Cited by 1,189
Nichter, M. (1981) · Culture Medicine and Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/bf00054782 · Cited by 804
Simons, R. C., & Hughes, C. C. (1985) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-009-5251-5 · Cited by 452
The illness narratives: Suffering, healing and the human condition
Merskey, H. S. (1989) · Pain · doi:10.1016/0304-3959(89)90122-x · Cited by 423
Nichter, M. (2010) · Culture Medicine and Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s11013-010-9179-6 · Cited by 407
Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC): Framework for Comparative Study of Illness
Weiss, M. G. (1997) · Transcultural Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/136346159703400204 · Cited by 361
Kirmayer, L. J. (2006) · Transcultural Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/1363461506061761 · Cited by 326
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Rubel A. J., 1991, Susto: A folk illness
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Lewis-Fernández, R., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2019) · Transcultural Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/1363461519861795 · Cited by 166
Haeffel, G. J., Jeronimus, B. F., Kaiser, B. N., Weaver, L. J., Soyster, P. D., Fisher, A. J., Vargas, I., Goodson, J. T., & Lu, W. (2021) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/21677026211002500 · Cited by 95
Self-citationPalmquist, A. E. L., Holdren, S., & Fair, C. D. (2019) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112648 · Cited by 80
Reporting Cultural Adaptation in Psychological Trials – The RECAPT criteria
Heim, E., Mewes, R., Ramia, J. A., Glaesmer, H., Hall, B. J., Shehadeh, M. H., Ünlü, B., Kananian, S., Kohrt, B. A., Lechner‐Meichsner, F., et al. (2021) · Clinical Psychology in Europe · doi:10.32872/cpe.6351 · Cited by 76
Trauma and Resilience Among Displaced Populations
Theisen-Womersley, G. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-67712-1 · Cited by 84
Metadata
- Authors
- Kaiser, B. N., & Jo Weaver, L.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- University of Oregon
- Corresponding author
- Kaiser, Bonnie N.
- ORCID
- Kaiser, Bonnie N.
- Venue
- Transcultural Psychiatry
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-07-26
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 589-598
- ISSN
- 1363-4615 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7471
- PMC
- PMC6724704
- OpenAlex
- W2966423182
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 59.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Transcultural Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (F32MH113288)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Cultural, Psychoanalytic, and Sociopolitical Reflections
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychology and Mental Health
- Keywords
- idioms of distress, culture-bound syndromes, cultural concepts of distress, psychological anthropology
- MeSH terms
- Ethnopsychology, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Language, Stress, Psychological
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