Between Anthropology and Psychiatry

While Psychology and Anthropology share certain overlapping interests, there is no agreed schema or paradigm for this area. Rejecting both psychoanalysis and the biopsychosocial model as insufficient, this collection brings together studies on Hasidic concepts of illness, the religious origins of schizophrenia, Christian stigmata, the "third sex" in Albania, jinn possession among European immigrants, and reincarnation among the Druze. The volume argues for plural models integrating biological, psychodynamic, and sociocultural perspectives. It highlights the enduring tension between Psychiatry's naturalistic explanations and Anthropology's personalistic approach, suggesting that both offer partial yet essential insights into human experience.

About the author

Roland Littlewood is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Psychiatry at University College, London. Former President of the Royal Anthropological Institute and a founding chair of the RAI’s Medical Committee and of the Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre. His clinical work included fifteen years with a homeless mentally ill project in North London.

Simon Dein practices as a Clinical Psychiatrist and is Visiting Professor of Medical Anthropology at Goldsmiths College. He has carried out fieldwork in London, United States, Italy and Madagascar. He has written five books and is joint editor of the journal Mental Health, Religion and Culture.

Product details

• Authors: Dein Simon, Roland Dein Littlewood, Littlewood Roland
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 01.04.2026
• EAN: 9781836954613
• ISBN: 978-1-83695-461-3
• No. of pages: 318
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Ethnology > Ethnology; MEDICAL / Psychiatry / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Psychiatry, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Diseases & disorders, Social and cultural anthropology, Psychiatric and mental disorders, Medical Anthropology; Theory and Methodology