Chikaodiri Nkereuwem Aghukwa1. 1. Department of Psychiatry, Bayero University, P.M.B. 3011, Kano 234, Nigeria. drchikan@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract
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<.05). CONCLUSIONS: Mental health planners should educate alternative mental health healers and integrate them in the care of mental illness.
OBJECTIVE: This study examined treatment seeking by 219 psychiatricpatients 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<.05). CONCLUSIONS: Mental health planners should educate alternative mental health healers and integrate them in the care of mental illness.
Authors: Abdallah Ibrahim; Sidua Hor; Ozge S Bahar; Duah Dwomoh; Mary M McKay; Reuben K Esena; Irene A Agyeponge Journal: Int J Ment Health Syst Date: 2016-10-03