Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders in a Southern Baffin Island Eskimo Settlement

The only evidence we have that mental disorders occurred in the Eskimo population prior to Euro-Canadian contact is the reports by the early explorers of the “pibloktoq” syndrome and the reminiscences of the older surviving Eskimos (13). This study shows not only that most of the major mental disord...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal
Main Author: Sampath, H. M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications 1974
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/070674377401900406
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674377401900406
Description
Summary:The only evidence we have that mental disorders occurred in the Eskimo population prior to Euro-Canadian contact is the reports by the early explorers of the “pibloktoq” syndrome and the reminiscences of the older surviving Eskimos (13). This study shows not only that most of the major mental disorders do exist in contemporary Eskimo settlements but also that their prevalence is high when compared to the rates found in southern communities. Furthermore, etiological implications would appear to revolve around changes in the social organization which are the result of the modernization process now taking place in the Arctic.