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A Baseline Study on Mental Disorders in Guiné-Bissau

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Joop T. V. M. de Jong
Affiliation:
Head of Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Bissau, Africa
Guus A. J. de Klein
Affiliation:
Department of Social Psychiatry, WHO Collaborative Centre, Oostersingel 59, Postbox 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, Netherlands
Sineke G. H. M. M. ten Horn*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Psychiatry, WHO Collaborative Centre, Oostersingel 59, Postbox 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, Netherlands
*
Correspondence

Abstract

Adults attending general health facilities in Guiné-Bissau were screened for the presence of mental disorder; minimum estimate of definite mentally ill cases was found to be 12%. The proportion correctly identified by general health workers was low: only one of every three patients with a mental disorder was recognised and of every 100 non-cases 12 patients were wrongly diagnosed by the health worker as suffering from psychiatric illness. On the basis of these results health workers are now being taught how to detect mental illness.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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