Arabic Psychiatry and Psychology: The Physician Who Is a Philosopher and the Physician Who Is Not a Philosopher: Some Cultural Considerations

The major focus of this article is to examine the current status of Arab psychiatry as practiced today and to provide some historical, theoretical, clinical, and research issues using cross-cultural comparisons as a backdrop to the argument. The paper deals primarily with issues pertinent to the current understanding of cross-cultural phenomena within Arabic societies. It discusses issues relevant to the practices and applications of traditional psychiatric methods and their coexistence with some practices that might appear contradictory to Western notions of psychiatric conceptualization of mental illness. It gives a brief synopsis of the interplay of the traditional healing methods in psychiatric practices as well as the contribution and acceptance of modern psychiatric methods and interventions. The changing demographic features of many Western nations and the resulting challenges faced by mental-health professionals working with diverse populations have only recently begun to bring these ideas to the fore.