The Latin American guide for psychiatric diagnosis - A cultural overview

In psychiatric nosology, the need to develop a common language to increase diagnostic reliability has long been recognized. Emerging now, however, is the need to harmonize international communication with recognition of the v alue of local cultural requirements to enhance validity of the psychiatric diagnosis. This article describes the development of the Latin American Gui de for Psychiatric Diagnosis, a regional annotation of the international cl assification system in psychiatry for application to Latin American psychia tric patients. The conceptual and cultural foundations of the system, as we ll as its diagnostic process and formulation, are I briefly described, toge ther with the nosologic organization, which includes the major diagnostic c lasses of ICD-10 and the organization and description of the Latin American cultural syndromes with the highest clinical relevance. It is the authors' contention that understanding the variations in the ways in which psychopa thology is expressed in Latin American patients is important for not only c linicians practicing in Latin America but also those serving Latin American individuals in developed countries, such as the United States.