Psychiatric collaborations in the Hispanic world.

Abstract

c a l t t P l u A a i p A number of factors facilitate academic collaborations across the globe including geographical proximity, language, historical links, and cultural similarities. Examples include the British Commonwealth, the European Union, US-Canada, the Francophone world, or Spanish-speaking countries. Similarities in systems of care, homogeneity of populations, ease of administering rating instruments in the same language, or simply friendship make these collaborations attractive to investigators. The Spanish-speaking world spans continents. Spanish is spoken by more than 400 million people and is the second most spoken primary language after Chinese. Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers (n = 112 million) followed by the US (n = 50 million) and Spain (n = 46 million). Yes, there are more Spanish speakers in the US than in Spain or in any South American country. Of note, Spanish is the only language other than English to be declared official in any state of the United States. New Mexico is the only legally bilingual state in the US. We should not forget that the first Europeans to colonize the US were Spaniards -Florida and New Mexico in the mid-1500s. So considering some regions of the United States as part of the Spanish-speaking world is reasonable. Compared to other medical conditions, psychiatric disorders are perhaps more likely affected by socio-economic determinants such as culture, poverty, social isolation or migration. It stands to reason that by comparing these factors, we can have a better understanding of what moderates and modulates the course of psychiatric conditions. Psychiatry is perhaps where a proficient knowledge of the language most matters, because it is still primarily through speech