Ethnopsychiatry in Central Australia. II. The evolution of illness in a Walbiri lineage.

The article discusses the study regarding the lineage of Walbiri people in central Australia, to determine the evolution in the neuropsychiatric illness pattern. It investigates the nature of this evolution taking place during the rapid acculturation of Australian Aborigines. It presents the mental illness data of a Walbiri lineage and discusses some complexities of the situation. Thus, it shows that an evolution of illness patterns is taking place, due to evidence collected in the field, in the Walbiri territories and Aranda tribes, and in the companion papers. However, further fieldwork is considered necessary to determine how fundamental this evolution may be.