PROBLEMS RELATED TO ALCOHOL-USE - A CROSS-CULTURAL-PERSPECTIVE

The assessment, diagnosis, and classification of mental disorders are embedded in social and cultural norms. In view of their Anglo-Saxon or igins, the prevailing diagnostic criteria and instruments for their as sessment have a strong Western influence. Yet they are used internatio nally with the implied assumption of their cross-cultural applicabilit y. The WHO Cross-Cultural Applicability Research (CAR) study was desig ned to test this assumption as it applies to disorders relating to the use of alcohol and drugs. This multidisciplinary research project was conducted in nine countries having different patterns of alcohol and drug use. The results suggest that, even though some similarities exis t with respect to the definition of problematic use of alcohol in thes e ethnically diverse societies, very substantial differences also exis t. A number of core concepts underpinning diagnosis of disorders relat ing to the use of alcohol have no equivalence in the local languages o f the various cultures, while some others lacked cultural applicabilit y because of their relative 'distance' from cultural and ethnic norms of drinking. This distance often relates to the difficulties of adapti ng descriptors of drinking norms in a 'wet' culture to one that is dec idedly 'dry'.