Clarke L
University of Brighton, UK.
J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs. 1998 Dec;5(6):555-62. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2850.1998.560555.x.
The causes of psychological illness in Irish people have been identified with colonial rule and the catastrophic conditions deriving from famine in the nineteenth century. In particular, the scourge of unremitting emigration, resulting from famine, has formed a background against which speculative theories of inferiority, alienation and mental illness have been constructed. In particular, the long standing idea that Irish people exhibit higher rates of schizophrenia, both in Ireland and abroad, is discussed. Contemporary studies which suggest that these elevated rates do not correspond to international diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia are introduced. Rather, these enhanced rates may reflect a malaise which resembles schizophrenia but which is really a product of historical dispossession. The importance of these factors is underscored by the previous neglect of Irish people, considered as an ethnic minority, as well as the particular distaste which many Irish people display towards such a notion.
爱尔兰人心理疾病的成因与殖民统治以及19世纪饥荒所带来的灾难性状况有关。特别是，饥荒导致的持续不断的移民潮，构成了一种背景，在此背景下，有关自卑、疏离和精神疾病的推测性理论得以构建。尤其值得一提的是，人们讨论了一种长期存在的观点，即爱尔兰人在爱尔兰国内外患精神分裂症的比例较高。文中介绍了当代研究，这些研究表明这些较高的比例并不符合精神分裂症的国际诊断标准。相反，这些升高的比例可能反映的是一种类似于精神分裂症的不适，但实际上是历史上被剥夺权利的产物。这些因素的重要性因之前对被视为少数民族的爱尔兰人的忽视，以及许多爱尔兰人对这一概念的特别反感而得到凸显。
