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24th European Congress of Psychiatry / European Psychiatry 33S (2016) S349–S805

S495

rehabilitation and social reintegration of the psychiatric patient.

To cope with the scarcity of human resources, a three-year techni-

cal degree was created, training medical technicians in psychiatry.

Presently, there are two specialized psychiatric hospitals, one in

Maputo and another in Nampula. Through the description of our

3-month community psychiatry internship in Mozambique, we

intend to depict the country’s mental health care reality. Our

internship took place in São João de Deus Mental Health Centre,

the psychiatric hospital located in Nampula, which is responsi-

ble for the country’s northern region. Besides offering in-patient

and ambulatory treatment, it also aims to intervene at a commu-

nity level. We will address the hospital’s community intervention

project, the developed activities, the most commonly observed

pathologies, the cross-cultural relevant aspects, as well as the chal-

lenges we had to face in a harsh environment. As one would expect,

the social and medical realities we encountered were quite differ-

ent from the ones we are used to, forcing us to adapt constantly in

order to surpass challenges of amultiple nature. Nonetheless, these

were also the circumstances that turned this experience into some-

thing unique, extremely enriching and certainly unrepeatable.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their decla-

ration of competing interest.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.1442

EV458

Phenomenology and cultural aspects

of panic attacks and panic disorder

among patients attending a

psychiatric clinic in Northern India:

An exploratory study

A. Gupta

1 ,

, P. Sharan

1

, R. Sagar

1

, S. Kant

2

1

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Department of Psychiatry,

New Delhi, India

2

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Centre for Community

Medicine, New Delhi, India

Corresponding author.

Introduction

The clinical presentation of panic attacks and panic

disorder in any culture is influenced by its concepts of physiology

and ensuing catastrophic beliefs. Western diagnostic paradigms

may be inconsistent with the concept of illness in the easternworld.

However, the role of culture in defining expression of panic symp-

toms in native Asian populations is rarely studied.

Objective

The study was aimed at exploring the phenomenology

of panic attacks and panic disorder in Northern India to understand

the culturally relevant qualitative characteristics and contextual

features.

Methodology

Six focus group discussions and five key infor-

mant interviews involving various stakeholders were conducted to

elicit local concepts and descriptions of the phenomena. Patients’

focus groups consisted of 30 participants (age range 23–45 years)

presenting with ‘panic attack-like episodes’. They were recruited

through purposive sampling from the rural and urban psychiatric

clinics of a tertiary care institution. Healthcare professionals’ views

were explored through focus groups comprising of 12 psychiatrists

and 5 key interviews with other medical specialists. The sessions

were tape-recorded and transcripts analyzed qualitatively using

grounded theory technique.

Results

Four major themes emerged from the analysis:

– differential panic symptom endorsement and culture-specific

symptoms;

– idioms of distress with underlying unique ethnophysiological

concepts;

– possible existence of cultural variants of panic attacks not con-

firming to ICD-10 or DSM-5 classical descriptions;

– causal attribution of illness and help seeking.

Conclusion

This is the first ethnographic study on panic disorder

from India. It provides preliminary insights into the issues of diag-

nostic universality and cultural specificity, which require further

systematic investigation.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their decla-

ration of competing interest.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.1443

EV459

EV459Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander. Not just a matter of cultural

diversity

M. Hernandez Garcia

1 ,

, L. Rodriguez

1

, T. Ballesta

1

, G. Bellido

2

,

C. Medrano

3

, I. Sevillano

1

, S. Cepedello

1

, S. Sanchez

1

,

R. Hernandez

1

, C. Noval

1

, H. De La Red

1

, A. Alonso

1

, A. Alvarez

1

,

L. Gallardo

1

1

Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Psiquiatría, Valladolid,

Spain

2

Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio, Salud Mental, Sevilla, Spain

3

Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, SaludMental, Córdoba, Spain

Corresponding author.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is the oldest living cul-

ture in the world, dating over 60,000 years. An understanding of

the complexity and richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

cultures, including the relationship between land and health, is

still yet to be fully realised and as a result this people suffer ongo-

ing social and health inequalities. These inequalities contribute to

higher rates of ill health and a 17-year life expectancy gap between

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and Tor-

res Strait Islander Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Australians report higher levels of psychological distress compared

with other Australians, with 77 percent reporting experiencing at

least one major stressor in the past 12 months, the most com-

mon stressor being the death of a family member or close friend

(42%). Particularly in rural and remote Australia, have higher rates

of depression, substance abuse, co-morbidity and post-traumatic

stress disorder. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aus-

tralians do not access community and outpatient mental health

services at a level that is commensuratewith their need. In contrast,

hospitalisation rates for mental health-related causes involving

specialised psychiatric care are almost twice the rate, and for men-

tal health-related causes without specialised psychiatric care are

around three times higher, comparedwith non-Aboriginal and Tor-

res Strait Islander Australians and death rates from ‘mental and

behavioural disorders’ are much higher for Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander Australians than for non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander people.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their decla-

ration of competing interest.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.1444

EV460

Cultural factors, depression, and

somatic symptoms among Chinese

Americans and European Americans

Z. Kalibatseva

1 ,

, F . L

eong

2

1

Stockton University, Psychology, Galloway, USA

2

Michigan State University, Psychology, East Lansing, USA

Corresponding author.

Introduction

Previous research suggests that people of Chi-

nese descent may somatize psychological distress and depression.

Cultural variations in depression among Chinese may be asso-

ciated with differences in culturally relevant factors, such as

self-construal, loss of face, emotion regulation, and acculturation.