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Solmaz
Golsabahi, M.D.
Austria
I had
my first encounters with cross-cultural medicine as a medical student in
1998, when I was involved in the sector of cross-cultural psychiatry. I
subsequently received my medical degree at the University of Vienna,, in
2003. The topic of my doctoral thesis was: the hospital regarded as an
inter-cultural meeting point- cross-cultural communication in the doctor
patient-relationship.
Family
background and childhood experience
I am the product of several cultures. I spent some of my childhood
years in Iran, in the United Arab Emirates and in Austria. My parents
and relatives originated from Rasht, Iran, which is located on the
Caspian Sea. They themselves were, in part, descendants of immigrants
from Baku, Azerbaijan and belonged to the Farsi (Persian) speaking
community. Religious diversity and religious tolerance characterized the
region of their upbringing, and mine too.
As
the conditions fundamentally changed in Iran following the nationalist
revolution in 1987, my parents tried to establish a secondary residence
in Dubai in order to have a safe haven for their children; (my sister
and me). In 1989-90, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait once again led to
significant turmoil and political changes in the Middle East. Being
open-minded and liberal, my parents decided to leave the Middle East
permanently.
Their
initial destination was actually Sydney, Australia. Going to Austria was
intended to be an intermediate stopover, but after staying there for six
months, they made the decision to settle in Vienna. The family obtained
Austrian citizenship after living in Vienna for 10 years.
Education
and Training
I concluded my A-Levels in 1996 and immediately started to study
medicine at Vienna University. Throughout my childhood and career, I
have always shown a keen interest in people; in their motives and how
they functioned. I tried to blend as far as possible into their cultures
and way of life, and generally to gain an insight into their language
and their way of thinking. I tried to acquire a deeper understanding of
the historical and cultural context.
I
gradually became more aware of my own multi-cultural and multilingual
background, which was distinguished by a tolerant Sufi religious
ideology dominant throughout my family. It was not unusual for the
family to accept friends' invitations to celebrate Hanuka, Christmas or
Norroz, the Iranian celebration of the first day of spring. As my mother
had always said: "God is as close to you as your arteries and God
is deep within you. Religions represent a path to our inner self and
they all follow the same direction, even though they may take different
approaches."
During
my studies in Vienna, I increasingly realized that the various
misunderstandings between colleagues and between doctors and their
patients, were not based primarily on language barriers, but were mainly
due to cultural barriers. This confirmed my grandfather's opinion: he
had always taught me that ignorance of culture is often the root cause
of irrational and unfounded reactions and even fanaticism.
In
1998, I met my tutor and academic mentor, Alexander Friedmann. I was
particularly impressed and intrigued by his renowned 'Wednesday
afternoon seminar in transcultural psychiatry' at the Vienna University
Hospital. This initial interest was soon followed by lengthy discussions
and an ongoing intellectual exchange. Friedmann`s consistent commitment
to promoting the improvement in the understanding of and the knowledge
of different cultures, in particular within the medical staff, left a
lasting impression on me as an emerging clinician. During this time I
realized the current relevance and importance of transcultural medicine
and psychiatry. My training in general psychiatr has led me to further
training in neurology and in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, along with
consolidating my commitment to transcultural psychiatry as a career
choice.
Current
activities
Together with a multi-professional team, I am currently establishing a
transcultural basic emergency kit (a library of basic resources of
transcultural medicine for trainees in all health and mental health
disciplines), including exemplary cases and video presentations for
hospitals. In addition, I have assumed a leading role in organizing the
first international congress for transcultural psychiatry, psychotherapy
and psychosomatics in the German-speaking countries, the first congress
of which was held in Witten, Germany, in Sep 2007. More than 200 people
participated in the congress; to everyone's surprise and satisfaction.
The second such congress will be held in Vienna, in Sep 2008, and it is
expected that a similar conference will be held yearly after that.
Since
2006, together with a group of influential German, Austrian and Swiss
colleagues who are active in the field of transcultural psychiatry, I
have been working on founding an association for transcultural
psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychosomatics in the German-speaking
countries. The objective is to found a trans-European association
dedicated to enhancing the breadth and depth of research and stimulating
the vocational and advanced training of the medical and other clinical
staff in inter-cultural communication in all clinical settings, and
subsequently to gain more influence in the socio-political issues
related to migration and acculturation.
For
this purpose, as a further step in achieving the objectives noted above,
I have helped establish a website on transcultural medicine and
psychiatry, the editorial staff of which is consistently growing. The
website is intended to serve as a reference guide for medical staff as
well as concerned people in regard to migration- related issues. There
are now three such websites in the German-speaking countries. They are
listed below.
www.transkulturellepsychiatrie.de
www.transkulturellepsychiatrie.at
www.transkulturellepsychiatrie.ch
June 3, 2008
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