Mental illness in immigrants in eastern saudi arabia: psychiatric diagnoses

This is a controlled study of mental illness among immigrants in Saudi Arabia. A total of 70 migrant patients were compared with an equal number of Saudi patients in psychiatric diagnoses (frequency, content and prognosis). The majority of immigrant patients were Asian (53%) and Arabs (43%) significant differences between the two groups were noticed in the frequency and the content of psychiatric diagnoses. Schizophrenia was significantly more among Saudi patients than immigrants. The acute paranoid reaction was almost exclusively among Asians, clinical presentation was unique, in addition to the short duration of the illness, favourable prognosis and the presence of a stress in almost all the cases. It seemed to be culture-related.