The Church and community psychiatric services in a region of northern Norway

Through questionnaries sent to all priests in a county in northern Norway (n = 78) we described and analysed the relations between the priests and a community mental health service. Results showed that the priests had contact with many persons with mental problems and also with many psychiatric patients. Priests described their work with psychiatric problems and psychiatric patients as based on a "holistic" concept of man, which they did not consider was the case in the professional work carried out by the psychiatric services. These ideological differnces did not result in the priests being unwilling to motivate persons to contact the mental health organisations, as four out of five priests had referred persons to psychiatric treatment in the 12 months before the study. There was also a strong wish among the priests for more contact with psychiatric professionals.