Care Seeking and Beliefs About the Cause of Mental Illness Among Nigerian Psychiatric Patients and Their Families

Objective:This study examined treatment seeking by 219 psychiatric patients at a teaching hospital in Kano, Nigeria. Methods:Patients or their families were interviewed about the types of mental health healers that patients saw before seeking conventional psychiatric treatment and beliefs about the...

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Veröffentlicht in:Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2012-06, Vol.63 (6), p.616-618
1. Verfasser: Aghukwa, Chikaodiri Nkereuwem
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Objective:This study examined treatment seeking by 219 psychiatric patients at a teaching hospital in Kano, Nigeria. Methods:Patients or their families were interviewed about the types of mental health healers that patients saw before seeking conventional psychiatric treatment and beliefs about the causes of the illness. Results:The length of illness before the psychiatric consultation was 4.5 years, and 99 (45%) respondents reported that patients had previously sought religious healing. A majority of respondents (N=128, 59%) attributed the illness to supernatural forces. Up to 68% and 75% of respondents who believed in a medical or genetic cause of illness, respectively, reported seeking a psychiatric consultation within six months of onset, and about 70% who believed in supernatural forces reported seeking psychiatric consultation five years after onset or later (p
ISSN:1075-2730
1557-9700
DOI:10.1176/appi.ps.201000343