An Anthropological and Epidemiological Overview of Mental Health in Belize

Bibliographic Data

ID2394345
AuthorsJason Bonander, Robert Kohn (0000-0001-8517-0719, Brown University), Belito Arana (Belize City, Belize), Itzhak Levav (Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, Washington DC, USA)
Year2000
Volume37
Issue1
Pages57-72
Publication date2000-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTranscultural Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-4615 • E-ISSN: 1461-7471
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/136346150003700103
OpenAlexW2166377100
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited19

While the use of epidemiological and anthropological methods to determine health risk factors is growing, combined work in the area of psychiatric epidemiology is still limited. This article presents a preliminary overview of the mental health needs and resources in Belize using historic, demographic, epidemiologic and ethnographic methods to survey both the needs and societal resources available to the ethnically heterogeneous population of this country. The projected epidemiological data suggest that the Belizean population is underserved, although these data by themselves fail to account for traditional therapeutic resource utilization and cultural conceptions of mental health, illness, risk and efficacy. On the basis of our initial findings, we conclude that there is a need to complement this study with cultural epidemiological research to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the mental health situation in Belize

Environmental health · Ethnic group · Ethnography · Mental health · Pathology · Population · Psychiatry · Sociology · Anthropology · Community Health and Development · Medicine · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology · Epidemiology · Gerontology

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