LAUSR

In recent years, the number of terrorist incidents in many Western European countries and the US have been purportedly carried out by local nationals and residents. As the number of such incidents increases there is a rising concern as to what society should be doing about these. Is it about acculturation, or is something else going on? Often assumptions are made that such individuals are mentally ill, and it is the role of psychiatrists to identify and manage such individuals. There are, of course, political imperatives as to whether one looks at a left wing liberal perspective, where it is argued that the fault lies with the new society, or whether it is a more nationalistic approach, which should force migrants to give up their original identities and adopt the new ones. There is little doubt that a multi-disciplinary approach is needed. To this end, the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Collaborating Centre in London hosted a 2-day round table on the topic, and papers in this special issue are a result of that discussion. On behalf of the WPA, it’s Executive committee, and myself, I would like to congratulate and thank Professor Kam Bhui for taking this important initiative, and thank all the participants for a very active and fruitful discussion and their contributions.