EDITORS' INTRODUCTION

The concept of the self varies across cultures. The notion of the self is at the core of an individual's personality. There had always been an assumption that child development was fairly similar across cultures until Margaret Mead highlighted the problem. Only in the last few decades has the relativism in child-rearing and differing personalities become clearer and of interest to clinicians and researchers. The way one thinks of the world and deals with others around one is dictated to a large degree by culture and society. The notion of being sociocentric in an individualistic society will raise a few eyebrows and, similarly, being egocentric in a collectivist society will bring about a large degree of opprobrium.

Crews and his colleagues in this chapter bring together anthropological views and some cross-cultural epidemiological data in order to argue that the cross-cultural concept of personality does vary and there is some indication that some types of personality disorders are more common in some cultures than in others. There are, in addition, still problems in the diagnosis of personality disorders where two major classificatory systems hold somewhat different positions. The distinction between trait and disorder is an important one, but often gets ignored. Historically, temperament (trait) has been identified for several millennia. Shared norms of behaviour are essential to the survival of any society. The social definitions (which are culturally sanctioned) of acceptable or unacceptable behaviour lead to ostracization or criminalization of the individual. The problems in managing these individuals in clinical settings are many.