Help-seeking behavior and pathways to care among patients seeking treatment at a private psychiatric hospital in North India

Dhanesh Kumar Gupta; Roop Sidana; Mitesh Behari; Kamal K Verma; Mahendra Singh Bhadoriya

doi:10.4103/jmhhb.jmhhb_49_17

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Year : 2018 | Volume : 23 | Issue : 1 | Page : 63-66

Help-seeking behavior and pathways to care among patients seeking treatment at a private psychiatric hospital in North India

Dhanesh Kumar Gupta¹, Roop Sidana², Mitesh Behari³, Kamal K Verma⁴, Mahendra Singh Bhadoriya⁵
¹ Institute of Mental Health, 10 Buangkok View, Singapore; Nishkam Foundation, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
² Tek Chand Sidana Memorial Psychiatric Hospital, Deaddiction Centre, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India
³ Department of Psychiatry, ANIIMS, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar, India
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, SP Medical, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Index Medical College, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

Correspondence Address:
Dhanesh Kumar Gupta
Institute of Mental Health, 10 Buangkok View

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

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DOI: 10.4103/jmhhb.jmhhb_49_17

Background: There are no studies on pathways to psychiatric care in patients seeking help at private psychiatric hospitals in India. Aim: This study aims to study help-seeking behavior and pathways to care among patients-seeking treatment at a private psychiatric hospital in North India. Subjects and Methods: Fifty newly registered patients were assessed for their help-seeking behavior and pathways to care before seeking the current consultation. Descriptive analysis was performed. Results: Most of the patients sought help either as self-referral or on advice of their relatives, friends, and other patients. Eighty percent of patients had seen a care provider within 1 month of onset of their symptoms. Forty-eight percent patients approached a psychiatrist while 34% approached a faith healer or unqualified local practitioner as their first care provider. Conclusion: Patients with mental illnesses vary in their help-seeking behavior with regard to their choice of first care provider, time to reach a psychiatrist, and number of care providers sought for their mental health problems.

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