Culture and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual: Fourth Edition

This paper will examine and review the current literatures’ demand for the inclusion of culturally sensitive and appropriate criteria into the existing descriptive and diagnostic protocols used in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health care service consumers from a culturally and linguistically diverse background in South Australia. The South Australian Mental Health Act 1993 fails to provide mental health care professionals with any reasonable definition of mental illness, but it relies upon the subjective interpretation of the existing diagnostic criteria by the attending mental health care professional. This paper will critically examine the often speculative but always controversial relevance of migration, post-arrival experiences and culture to the diagnosis and treatment of mental ill-health.