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Pathways to mental healthcare in high-income and low-income countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

E. A. Sorketti
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, email [email protected]
N. Z. Zuraida
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
M. H. Habil
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Understanding the way in which people seek care for mental disorders is important for planning services, training and referral mechanisms. Pathways to care fall broadly into three categories: via primary care physicians; via native healers; and via patient choice (patients can have direct access to mental health professionals). The pattern and nature of access to service in low-income countries are different from those in high-income countries. In many societies, deep-seated cultural beliefs on the part of patients and families about the causes of mental disorders are a major barrier to the receipt of modern psychiatric care.

Type
Special Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2013

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