Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:86-89
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Psychiatric diagnoses of Cuban refugees in the United States: findings of medical review boards
PA Boxer and JT Garvey
To assess the reproducibility of psychiatric diagnoses made in immigration
proceedings, the authors examined cases of 109 Cuban refugees who had
appealed psychiatric diagnoses that precluded their admission to the United
States according to the Immigration and Nationality Act. Medical review
boards upheld only 23 (42%) of 55 initial diagnoses of antisocial
personality disorder but affirmed exclusionary certifications in 39 (72%)
of the 54 other cases. Failure to sustain a high proportion of diagnoses of
antisocial personality disorder may reflect interviewer biases,
cross-cultural inappropriateness of diagnostic criteria, or other
deficiencies in the current system of psychiatric evaluation of potential
refugees.
