Perceptual symptoms in the latino psychiatric patients attending inner city outpatient clinic

Abstract

Introduction

Psychotic symptoms occur in a variety of psychiatric disorders and medical conditions. In addition, a significant proportion of the general population reports history of psychotic symptoms in the apparent absence of a psychiatric disorder. Reviewed literature suggests that Latino patients report certain forms of visual and auditory hallucinations without other indications of psychotic illness. In addition, it is common that some individuals with diverse religious or cultural backgrounds may present with psychotic transient experiences, which can be culturally normative.

Objective

To determine the prevalence of hallucinations and describe the nature of hallucinatory experiences in relation to cultural belief in Latino and non-Latino psychiatric outpatients.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective case control study of 146 patients who were admitted to the outpatient psychiatric clinic for a period of ten months. We assessed clinical characteristics of these patients and reviewed the extended mental status examination, which contained questions about various form of hallucinations and spiritual experiences. This poster will explore the prevalence of hallucinations in the Latino population and determine the percentage of patients with a diagnosis of psychotic illness. A discussion of the phenomenological hallucinatory experiences and its relationship to cultural beliefs in the Latino psychiatric patients will also be presented.

Conclusions

Psychotic symptoms present differently across cultures. The Latino population is most likely to have psychotic like symptoms related to their cultural beliefs. Clinicians must understand the diverse cultural experiences and beliefs of the patients they work with to prevent misdiagnosis of culturally normative experiences.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.