scholarly journals Traditional faith healers as referral sources: A hospital-based descriptive study

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-50
Author(s):  
D.K. Thapa ◽  
N. Lamichhane ◽  
S. Subedi

Introduction: Mental illnesses are commonly linked with a higher disability and burden of disease than many physical illnesses. But despite that fact, it is a general observation that a majority of patients with mental disorder never seek professional help. To elaborate further, the widely prevalent magico-religious beliefs associated with mental illness and lower literacy, poses significant social obstacles in seeking appropriate health care for psychiatric patients. In general, mental illness is seen as related to life stresses, social or family conflicts and evil spirits and the concept of biological causes of mental illness is rare even among the educated. The idea that illness and death are due to malevolent spirits is common notion that is shared practically by all level of society from the so-called primitive to modern industrialized societies, thus indicating the strong influences of cultural background. When there is a magico- religious concepts of disease causation, there is tendency to consult indigenous healers. Therefore, the patients with mental illness often either visit or are taken to faith healers by their relatives. The objective of the study was to determine the various psychiatric cases that were referred by the traditional faith healers to the authors. Material and Method: This is a cross- sectional, hospital- based descriptive study, conducted at the Psychiatric outpatient department of Pokhara Om Hospital, Pokhara, Kaski, Nepal for the period of one year, from June 2016 to May 2017. The total of 35 cases, referred by the traditional faith healers was included in the study. Subjects of any age, any gender, any literacy level, any caste, from any locality and religious background were included in the study after their consent. Subjects who refused to consent were not included in the study. The psychiatric diagnosis was based on the complete history and examination and ICD- 10 DRC criteria. Results: Though the sample size is small, it is interesting to note that patients with various kinds of mental disorders were referred by traditional faith healers. There were patients suffering from neurotic disorders, psychotic disorders, mood disorders, seizure, substance use disorder, intellectual disability etc seeking the treatment from traditional faith healers. Among the cases referred, predominantly were female and neurotic cases. Most patients were educated. Conclusion: The study shows that patients with various mental disorders visit traditional faith healer. This area surely requires further in-depth look as traditional faith healers can be an important source of referral of psychiatric patients.

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S453-S453
Author(s):  
D. Szczesniak ◽  
I. Wojciechowska ◽  
M. Kłapciński ◽  
E. Zwyrtek ◽  
J. Rymaszewska

IntroductionStigma is a multistage process that makes person marked by the stigma to be perceived as diminished or even as “not fully human”. The internalized stigmatization is seen as one of the levels of stigma to be present in persons with mental illness. A new perspective to mediation models between internalized stigma and illness-related factors is needed.AimTo assess the relationship between insight in mental illness and internalized stigma, as well to verify the knowledge of illness-related factors on the phenomenon of internalized stigma among patients with severe mental illnesses.MethodsA cross-sectional study design conducted among participants of both sexes between 18 years old and 65 years old with diagnosis of psychotic disorders (F20–29) and mood disorders (F30–39), who after reading the information about the study, give their written consent to participate. Among used methods were: a questionnaire of Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) by Ritsher [Boyed] et al. translated into Polish version and self-prepared interviews. Insight into mental illness was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale.ResultsThe preliminary results showed patients with the insight into the mental illness have significantly higher scores on the ISMI scale. Moreover, inpatient participants and those with the diagnosis of depression were characterized by higher level of stereotype endorsement compared with outpatients and psychotic patients.ConclusionsThe obtained results may contribute in the clinical and therapeutic fields, assuming that insight and the type of treatment are strongly linked with the process of recovery and the internalized stigma.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402098858
Author(s):  
Surat Ram Kudi ◽  
Deepika C Khakha ◽  
T K Ajesh Kumar ◽  
Koushik Sinha Deb

Background and aim: Globally, very few patients with mental illness go to health care facilities to receive psychiatry treatment. This study aims to identify pathways used by patients with severe mental disorders who seek mental health care services in the psychiatry unit of AIIMS, New Delhi. Materials and methods: It is a retrospective cross-sectional study with convenience sampling technique was used, and data were collected from 123 caregivers of patients with severe mental illnesses using standardized tools like MINI, BPRS, YMRS and WHO Encounter pathway. Results: The findings revealed that 41.5% of the patients made their first contact with the faith healers, 27.6% with AYUSH medical practitioners, 14.6% with psychiatrists and 12.2% with allopathic medical practitioners. About 26% of the patients reported hallucinations as the first symptom for seeking help. In the majority of cases (96.7%), the patient’s relatives made the decision for the patient to seek treatment the first time to manage the symptoms. The psychotic symptoms (65.1%) helped the patient’s relatives to take the decision for first seek. The mean delay for seeking treatment from psychiatrists was 13.31 ± 10.6 (months). Conclusion: This study showed that a higher proportion of patients received treatment from the faith healer at the first seek, whereas only a few patients approached psychiatrist directly. Hence, there is an immense need to create awareness regarding mental illness and treatment options available.


Salud Mental ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 207-215
Author(s):  
María Teresa Solis-Soto ◽  
María Soledad Burrone ◽  
Gabriel Reginatto ◽  
Jaime C. Sapag ◽  
Rubén Alvarado

Introduction. Mental disorders represent one of the main causes of disease burden in the adult population. Negative public attitudes and behaviors toward people with mental disorders negatively affect the treatment, recovery, and social inclusion of those affected. Chile laks surveys on workers that address this issue. Objective. To describe the perceptions of devaluation and discrimination towards people with mental disorders in a sample of Chilean workers. Method. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 1 516 workers in the formal sector of four regions of Chile (Metropolitan Region [RM], Bío Bio [VIII], Valparaíso [V] and Coquimbo [IV]). The perception of discrimination and devaluation was explored through a modified version of the The perceived Devaluation-Discrimination Scale (PDD) comprising 15 questions. The relationship of each question with sociodemographic variables (age, sex, years of study, and region) and type of economic activity was assessed. Results. The study found a high percentage of perceptions of devaluation and discrimination in most aspects considered, particularly those related to hiring a person who has been hospitalized due to a mental illness (85%), feeling sorry for people with severe mental illnesses (80%), and the unwillingness to marry a person with a mental illness (78%). Significant differences were observed in the opinions by sociodemographic variables and region of residence. Discussion and conclusion. The perception of Chilean workers has high levels of stigma towards people living with mental disorders. It is necessary and urgent to develop effective anti-stigma public policies to promote a more inclusive, tolerant society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1352
Author(s):  
Gianluca Pandolfo ◽  
Fiammetta Iannuzzo ◽  
Giovanni Genovese ◽  
Antonio Bruno ◽  
Giovanni Pioggia ◽  
...  

Amyloid precursor protein and its derivates represent a central factor in the process of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Since mental illnesses share with AD cognitive impairment, amyloid indicators have been used to explore the unknown pathophysiologic mechanisms underlining psychiatric illness. This work aims to compare the role of amyloid markers, together with tau proteins, among various mental disorders evaluating the possible role of altered amyloid metabolism in the onset and in the course of psychiatric diseases, considering the relationship with cognitive impairment in dementia. This review includes articles written in English, published between 1 January 2011 and 31 January 2021, which evaluated amyloid and tau proteins in psychiatric patients. After screening, 31 studies were included in the review. Results suggest that amyloid metabolism is altered in major psychiatric disorders and that it could be a marker of cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, the role of amyloid in mental diseases seems to be related to neurodevelopmental alteration as well as neurodegeneration processes, like in AD. The role of amyloid in the pathogenesis of mental disorders is still unknown. Amyloid should not be only considered as a marker of cognitive impairment in mental illness, but also for altered neurodevelopment.


1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Elwood

AbstractObjectives: Drivers with certain mental illnesses are obliged by the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to stop driving and to report their condition. This study aims to quantify the number of psychiatric patients failing to meet the DVLA standards of ‘fitness to drive’ and to record how frequently psychiatrists failed to advise patients of these standards.Method: In this prospective descriptive study, 10 psychiatrists reported by questionnaire the diagnosis and driving status of all patients encountered over a four week period. They recorded their advice given to patients failing to meet the DVLA criteria of ‘fitness to drive’ and advice given when prescribing psychotropic medication.Results: Of 297 patients, 123 (41%) were drivers. 19/123 (13%) of drivers failed to meet the DVLA standards of ‘fitness to drive’. In 9/19 of these cases the psychiatrist did not advise the patient in line with the DVLA guidelines. This was especially the case for alcohol related disorders. Of drivers 49% were prescribed psychotropic medication with potential adverse effects on driving.Conclusions: Driving amongst mentally ill patients appears commonplace. In this study, 13% of drivers were considered by the authorities to be unfit to drive. Psychiatrists frequently used their own judgement when advising patients regarding driving. This arguably contravenes doctors' responsibilities to patients and has potential legal implications for both the patient and psychiatrist.


2021 ◽  
pp. 025371762199953
Author(s):  
Bhavneesh Saini ◽  
Pir Dutt Bansal ◽  
Mamta Bahetra ◽  
Arvind Sharma ◽  
Priyanka Bansal ◽  
...  

Background: Normal personality development, gone awry due to genetic or environmental factors, results in personality disorders (PD). These often coexist with other psychiatric disorders, affecting their outcome adversely. Considering the heterogeneity of data, more research is warranted. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on personality traits in psychiatric patients of a tertiary hospital, over 1 year. Five hundred and twenty-five subjects, aged 18–45 years, with substance, psychotic, mood, or neurotic disorders were selected by convenience sampling. They were evaluated for illness-related variables using psychiatric pro forma; diagnostic confirmation and severity assessment were done using ICD-10 criteria and suitable scales. Personality assessment was done using the International Personality Disorder Examination after achieving remission. Results: Prevalence of PD traits and PDs was 56.3% and 4.2%, respectively. While mood disorders were the diagnostic group with the highest prevalence of PD traits, it was neurotic disorders for PDs. Patients with PD traits had a past psychiatric history and upper middle socioeconomic status (SES); patients with PDs were urban and unmarried. Both had a lower age of onset of psychiatric illness. Psychotic patients with PD traits had higher and lower PANSS positive and negative scores, respectively. The severity of personality pathology was highest for mixed cluster and among neurotic patients. Clusterwise prevalence was cluster C > B > mixed > A (47.1%, 25.2%, 16.7%, and 11.4%). Among subtypes, anankastic (18.1%) and mixed (16.7%) had the highest prevalence. Those in the cluster A group were the least educated and with lower SES than others. Conclusions: PD traits were present among 56.3% of the patients, and they had many significant sociodemographic and illness-related differences from those without PD traits. Cluster C had the highest prevalence. Among patients with psychotic disorders, those with PD traits had higher severity of psychotic symptoms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S577-S577 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Ouali ◽  
R. Jomli ◽  
R. Nefzi ◽  
H. Ouertani ◽  
F. Nacef

IntroductionMental patients generally internalize some of the negative conceptions about how most people view them: they might be considered incompetent or untrustworthy or believe that people would not want to hire, or marry someone with mental illness. A lot of research on stigma has been conducted in western countries; however, little is still known on the situation in Arab-Muslim societies.ObjectivesTo evaluate social stigma as viewed by patients suffering from severe mental illness (SMI)MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study on clinically stabilized patients with schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder (BD) according to DSM IV, who were interviewed in our out-patients clinic with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire, containing 8 opinions on the social inclusion and stigmatization of psychiatric patients, with special reference to the local cultural context (e.g.: “It is better to hide mental illness in order to preserve the reputation of my family”)ResultsWe included 104 patients, 51% with schizophrenia and 49% with BD. Mean age was 38.4 years (18–74 years); 59.6% were males. Overall social stigma scores were high. Social stigma in patients was correlated with gender, age, place of residence and diagnosis. Patients with BD showed significantly less social stigma than patients with schizophrenia.ConclusionOur results show the need for a better understanding of this phenomenon in patients with SMI, but also within Tunisian society, in order to elaborate anti stigma strategies adapted to the local context.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


Author(s):  
Daniel Román-Sánchez ◽  
Juan Carlos Paramio-Cuevas ◽  
Olga Paloma-Castro ◽  
José Luis Palazón-Fernández ◽  
Isabel Lepiani-Díaz ◽  
...  

Mental health nurses, together with psychiatrists, are the healthcare professionals who display the highest levels of empathy and the best attitudes towards patients with mental disorders. However, burnout is a common problem among these professionals. The aim of our study is to describe the association between empathy, burnout, and attitudes towards patients with mental disorders among mental health nurses in Spain. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used involving a sample of 750 specialist nurses working in mental health facilities in Spain. An intentional, non-probability, non-discriminative, exponential snowball sampling method was used. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness Inventory were used to measure the study variables. A positive correlation was observed between empathy and all the study variables, with the exception of the personal accomplishment dimension of burnout and the social restrictiveness and authoritarianism dimensions of attitudes towards mental illness, where a negative relation was observed. Our findings suggest that empathy is associated with an increase in positive attitudes towards patients with mental disorders, decreasing associated stigma, but did not act as a protective factor against burnout in the study sample.


Author(s):  
Samira M. Mahboub ◽  
Rahaf A. Aleyadhi ◽  
Reema I. Aldrees ◽  
Shahad S. Almuhanna

Background: Mental illness can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, and residence. Studying the attitude and knowledge about mental illnesses among university students is important, because they are the future decision makers dealing with such problems. The aim of this study was to assess level of knowledge and attitude towards mental illnesses among health and non-health university students in Riyadh.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study on students of the governmental universities in Riyadh with both health and non-health speciality. The total sample size was 587 students. The questionnaire was designed electronically, and the link was distributed through social media. It included socio-demographic questions, 17 questions to assess knowledge and 22 questions to assess the attitudes. The statistical tests used were chi square, independent sample t-test, spearman’s correlation and multiple linear regression tests.Results: More than half of the participants had a positive attitude toward mental illness (52%). Only 13.46% of university students had good knowledge about mental illness. Significant higher level of good knowledge and positive attitude were reported among health college students compared to non-health (24.7% versus 7.9% for good knowledge and 60.8% versus 48.3 for positive attitude respectively). Attitude towards mental illness can be successfully predicted by using the knowledge score about mental illness and the type of college.Conclusion: Low percentage of university students had good knowledge about mental illness and their attitude towards mental illness was generally positive. Health college students had better attitude and knowledge about mental illness than non-health.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mrs. Sushma. C ◽  
Dr. Meghamala. S. Tavaragi

Philippe Pinel a pioneer, a french psychiatrist, a physician, known as father of modern psychiatry, revolutions psychiatric care of patients with mental illness by introducing concept of moral treatment. Pinel rejected the then prevailing popular notion that mental illness was caused by demonic possession and stated that mental disorders could be caused by a variety of factors including psychological or social stress, congenital conditions, or physiological injury, psychological damage, or heredity. Philippe Pinel for the first time in history of psychiatric patients treated them humanly by unchaining patients known as madmen. This historic event was done for first time in Bicêtre Hospital in 1798 a Parisian insane asylum. In this article a brief history of life and work of pioneer Philippe Pinel is mentioned.


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