People from ethnic minorities are over represented in secure psychiatric care, and have been reported to receive differential treatment by staff. It has been suggested that these people (especially Afro-Caribbean groups) suffer from prejudicial legal, criminal justice and psychiatric systems. This topical and controversial collection questions whether Western and white-oriented practice and systems of belief can -- or should -- be applied to service users from other cultural, racial, ethical or spiritual backgrounds.

The contributors are experts from a range of psychiatric, criminal justice, legal and ethical backgrounds, and, uniquely, include patients who recount their own experience of forensic care settings. They examine and explore the central theoretic issues, such as culture, power, difference and participation, and relate them to examples of current practice, and to the improvement of future service provision. They identify techniques and approaches which will make care and treatment more sensitive and equitable.

Race, Culture and Ethnicity in Psychiatric Practice: Working with Difference provides essential and often controversial information and analysis which exposes society's view of minorities and the influence these views may have on care professionals working in psychiatric and criminal justice systems. It details practical steps for improvement to ensure a more equitable and culturally sensitive service provision.