Objective: Frequency and severity of mental illness in patient samples of two culturally different origins.
Methods: Employment of the structured interview (Mini-DIPS) and self-assessment questionnaires on depression (BDI-II) and general psychiatric symptom load (SCL-90-R) as well as posttraumatic symptoms (ETI) and sense of coherence (SOC-29) in 55 Iranian and 51 German patients of a psychiatric practice.
Results: Iranian patients show higher symptom load, but also higher resilience.
Conclusion: The higher burden of symptoms in Iranians can be attributed to traumatic experiences before migration on the one hand and is associated with insufficient language proficiency on the other hand.
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.