A study of mental illness in Asians, West Indians and Africans living in Manchester

Abstract

First admission rates have been determined for immigrants living in Manchester. They show that immigrants as a whole had about twice the rate of British-born subjects, but that various subgroups had rates still higher, including those aged 35-44 and Asian women. According to hospital diagnoses the psychiatric conditions responsible for these increased rates are schizophrenia (in all groups) and neuroses and personality disorders (in the Asians). A case note study of the psychopathology showed, however, that the most characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia were not more common in the immigrants. It is concluded that most of the immigrants are suffering from paranoid psychoses, not schizophrenia.