Found in translation: A review of the clinical and conceptual links between immigration and psychosis

This dissertation reviews the literature on psychosis in immigrant populations, using insights from anthropology, postcolonial theory, and related philosophical disciplines to present immigration and psychosis as liminal states with both conceptual and concrete connections. The last 15 years have seen a growth in research demonstrating increased rates of psychosis in migrant populations around the world, and in derivative literature exploring etiological hypotheses that might explain this disparity. The current study notes an absence in this literature of acknowledgement of the central role that culture, language, and transitional states play in both immigration and psychosis, which hampers a full and clinically useful understanding of what happens when these processes co-occur. To augment the literature, the author surveys topics such as anthropology's revisions to the concept of acculturation, postcolonial theories of cultural encounter and evolution, poststructuralist theories of language and meaning, and deconstructionist analysis of xenophobia's influence in the historical development of psychosis as a diagnosis, applying these to a more nuanced appreciation of the convergence of migration and psychosis. The review concludes explaining how interdisciplinary perspectives might play a larger role in guiding clinical research and training, and might allow for ways of thinking about psychosis that both improve patient care and help propel academic discourse on language, culture, meaning, and psychosis, the great conundrums of psychiatry and philosophy.