Experiences of a psychiatric outpatient team in Nicaragua. Mental health problems seen in a primary care setting.

The paper presents experiences from one of the first psychiatric out-patients teams in Nicaragua which was started in 1982. 198 patients consecutively attending the unit were studied thoroughly as regards clinical diagnosis and areas of conflict presented as reason for attendance. Depressive neurosis and anxiety neurosis were the predominant diagnoses, followed by epilepsy and schizophrenic disorders. Almost half of the patients stated that they had family problems.