Global migration and the increasing number of minority groups, including immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees and ethnic minorities, mean that increasingly, psychiatrists and patients may come from different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, cultural differences between patients and clinicians have become a matter of growing importance to mental health care as western societies have become increasingly diverse. This talk will attempt to illustrate how attention to these cultural differences enriches the discussion of ethics in mental health care. This talk will also attempt to underline that cultural competence is able to enhance the ethical treatment of mental health of patients from different cultural backgrounds. Consequently, to be culturally competent, a clinician must be sensitive, knowledgeable, and empathetic about cultural differences. Therefore, cultural competence is a concrete, practical expression of bioethics ideals. According to Hoop et al. in 2008, it is a practical, concrete demonstration of the ethical principles of respect for persons, beneficence (doing good), nonmaleficence (not doing harm), and justice (treating people fairly), the cornerstones of ethical codes for the health professions.

In this talk the complex relationship between culture, values, and ethics in mental health care will be analyzed and discussed.