PERCEPTION OF MENTAL-ILLNESS IN PATIENTS OF MEDICAL GENERAL-PRACTICE

We present data from a research study carried out at a Primary Health Care Center (PHCC), in Mexico City. A schedule was applied for the pur pose of obtaining information about the way patients perceive and defi ne mental illness, and determine the degree of knowledge they have abo ut these disorders and their treatment possibilities. The schedule inc luded five questions, four of which were open. The first one should be answered affirmatively or negatively, the other four items were open questions inquiring about the concept the patients had about emotional , psychiatric, psychologic or nervous disorders, their knowledge regar ding where to ask for help and to whom, and finally the meaning of thr ee concepts: mental disease, emotional disorder and psychiatry. This s chedule was applied directly by psychologists previously trained. An i dentification card was also applied. The studied population was formed with patients aged 18 trough 64, selecting one randomly from every tw o patients consulting a general family practitioner in the PHCC. The s tudy group was integrate by 461 patients, mainly young women, married, of medium-low to medium social class, according to their education, o ccupation and income. More than a half of the patients (57.5 %) answer ed ''I don't know'' to the question. Do you know what is an emotional problem or disease? When we crossed this variable with years of study, we found significative differences (p < = .001). We also found that e motional disorders were identified as ''having problems and not knowin g how to solve them''. The ''family'' and the ''health center'' were t he most viable options when requiring attention or help. It is notewor thy that more than half of them answered ''not knowing'' what an emoti onal disorder is, and consequently they didn't know what to do, whom t o call or where to assist. We found a great variety of definitions and terms regarding the concepts investigated. It is convenient to privat e information in general about mental illness, and whom to call and wh ere to assist.