Papua and New Guinea transcultural psychiatry: some hazards of the mixed-blood marginal situation

The first decade of psychiatric experience among the largely non-literate peoples of Papua and New Guinea is discussed. In the early stages the problems are primarily of an administrative nature to be soon overshadowed by those referable to custom, language, and social organization. This presentation is an account of types of indigenous mental disorder referred to the author over a ten-year period, during the major portion of which he was the sole psychiatrist for the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. European and mixed-race patients are ex-cluded from this compilation and are referred to elsewhere (Burton-Bradley, 1967a; 1968b; 1969). In the earlier years, the work was carried out under very difficult conditions. Initially a small hospital was erected in a rural setting at Bomana ten miles from Port Moresby. This consisted of a few galvanized-iron sheds with an exercise yard. Rats and other pests impaired hospital records, so that it was later abandoned and subsequently demolished. A new site was then selected on the banks of the Laloki River. This was virgin jungle country and the vegeta-tion so dense in parts that it was often necessary to cut one’s way through. A major hazard here was unexpected flooding. It was common in the wet season, and on one occasion the hospital was under four feet of water. Higher ground was found in the same area which was eventually transformed into what is now the Laloki Psychiatric Centre consisting of a main hospital and a rehabilitation annexe. It is a delightful place and has much to offer. In addi-tion to Bomana and Ldoki, patients have also been seen on referral at the Boroko Psychiatri