Psychopathology and Migration

Background We aimed is to describe the phenomenology of mental disorders in migrants referred to Bologna West Community Mental Health Centre(CMHC), by analysing the psychopathological dimensions that underlie their clinical diagnoses. Methods We recruited all migrants who attended the Bologna West CMHC between May 1999 andJuly 2009. The psychopathological assessment was conducted with the Association for Methodology and Documentation in Psychiatry (AMDP) and clinical diagnoses were formulated according to ICD-10. We proceeded through a two-step analysis:(1) comparing the prevalence rates of psychopathological symptoms across diagnoses; then (2) conducting a factor analysis to assess how those symptoms configure psychopathological dimensions and how these dimensions underlieclinical diagnoses. Results W e found significant associations between diagnoses and the prevalence of their core psychopathological symptoms. Factor analysis revealed a strong polymorphism ofthe psychopathological presentation of mental disorders and unexpectedly showed that in each diagnostic cluster, the first extracted factor was not composed of core symptoms. Conclusions A mixed categorical-dimensional approach adds relevant information regarding psychopathological dimensions useful to the understanding of the peculiar clinical expressivity of migrants patients.