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Biomedical subjects

H Collomb

Publications and source records attributed to H Collomb.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1981

Mastering change: epidemiological and case studies in Senegal, West Africa.

While it has often been assumed that persons exposed to rapid social change incur a risk to their mental health, research results have been inconsistent. The authors found that 269 urban migrants in Senegal, West Africa, did not demonstrate worse mental health than did 300 rural nonmigrants. Case studies suggest that outcome is determined not by change per se but by social contingencies which modify the situations, as well as by personal assets which individuals bring with them. Critical factors include the persistence of familiar cultural forms within the new environment and skills such as literacy and the ability to creatively integrate elements of the old and new cultures.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1976

Measuring psychoneurotic behavior in cross-cultural surveys.

In recent years, a number of studies have appeared which attempt to measure neurotic disorders among population samples in different cultural settings. The problem of how to define and measure psychiatric disorders in untreated groups, and especially in cultures to which the investigators are not native, is, however, far from resolved. The present report describes an effort to study psychological stress among the Serer of Senegal. We describe a method we used to develop a questionnaire to tap symptoms of psychiatric distress, and which would be geared to the realities of place and setting. By means of a factor analysis of the responses to this questionnaire by more than 400 subjects, we identify four dimensions by which the Serer express neurotic disturbance. Further analyses presented in the report demonstrate that these are not merely ways of expressing symptoms based on physical illness, that they are able to discriminate between ill and well people in the Serer frame of reference, that they possess domain validity, and that they demonstrate important similarities and differences with factors obtained using similar techniques in different cultural settings. From a methodological point of view, we illustrate the importance of using a multidimensional approach in such studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

[Cerebral metastasis in Blacks in Senegal].

Twenty-six brain-metastases in black patients, appearing for most of them as primitive, were observed during a period of 11 years in the Neurological Clinic of the Fann U.H.C. in Dakar. They represent 13.9% of brain-tumours and 11.81% of intracranial space occupying lesions. Their etiology is very diversified: lung cancer (4, 15.4%); breast (0); liver (3, 11.5%); digestive tract (3, 11.5%); prostate gland (1); ovaries (1); parotid gland (1); thyroid gland (2); lympho-reticulosarcoma (2); melano-sarcoma (1); chorio carcinoma (3); undetermined (5, 11.5%). This series enables us to appreciate differences with African statistics, which are not numerous and with other foreign statistics. The difference of division of cancer in Africa, particularly in Senegal, explains some results such as the relative high frequency of liver-cancer in the etiology of this metastasis. But it is surprising to learn that lung-cancer is frequent and breast-cancer absent. Also to be marked is the non-negligible influence of the choriocarcinoma metastasis. Progress in approaching diagnosis, by developing scintigraphy, might facilitate extraction of solitary metastasis more often.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

[Use of a rating scale in transcultural psychiatry].

The Psychopharmacological Studies Group of Fann, Dakar, considered the cultural expression of mental illness as it would help for a new definition of the nosographic frames, and inside of them, the appreciation of symptoms. This new definition would be applied "universally" if it may be considered that some symptoms are "culture-free" and others deeply marked by the discourse held by the person or by his social group. The use of valuation scales for symptomatic change during a treatment (here anti-depressive one) become harder by the undifferenciation of these two types of symptoms. Further, it may exist nosographic masks which can hide more curable substructures ; as often happens here, in masked depressions when the presented symptoms are those of acute or chronic psychotic manifestations. The efficacy of depressive treatment is then remarkable.

Acting Out↗