" All these issues should raise awareness among mental health professionals about the steps they can take to address these problems. These steps include:
Asking during the initial interview of the FDW upon admission about a history of abuse /maltreatment and reporting it to the relevant NGOs working in the field of legal protection. Indeed, the medical team often omits this aspect, as if it were not relevant enough for diagnosis and management.
This omission may be due to the traditional “neutrality” advocated by medical doctors, or the controversial slogan “heal but don’t say anything”. It may also be due to the polemics around the duty of doctors to report violations of human rights when they witness it.
Developing cultural competence which would allow psychiatric practitioners to better communicate with foreign patients, and to make a diagnostic assessment that takes into account cultural variations in symptomatic expressions.
Questioning the profession’s own discriminative assumptions and beliefs concerning foreign patients, which can insidiously and negatively interfere with one’s medical decisions." (thanks Laure)
Asking during the initial interview of the FDW upon admission about a history of abuse /maltreatment and reporting it to the relevant NGOs working in the field of legal protection. Indeed, the medical team often omits this aspect, as if it were not relevant enough for diagnosis and management.
This omission may be due to the traditional “neutrality” advocated by medical doctors, or the controversial slogan “heal but don’t say anything”. It may also be due to the polemics around the duty of doctors to report violations of human rights when they witness it.
Developing cultural competence which would allow psychiatric practitioners to better communicate with foreign patients, and to make a diagnostic assessment that takes into account cultural variations in symptomatic expressions.
Questioning the profession’s own discriminative assumptions and beliefs concerning foreign patients, which can insidiously and negatively interfere with one’s medical decisions." (thanks Laure)
