Abstract

Pathways patients take to psychiatric care reflect the nature of the services available and the popular belief model about mental illness. We aimed to study the help-seeking behavior and to determine the prevalence of contact with psychiatric services among patients with mental disorders receiving traditional treatment in the traditional healers centers (THC) in Sudan. All in-patients with mental disorders receiving treatment in the THC, socio-demographic data,information on help-seeking pathways and experiences of contact with psychiatric services were determined through face–to-face interviews and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). We found that prior to presenting to traditional healers 48.1% (195) had previous contact with the psychiatric services and 51.9 %( 210) did not. Many of those who contacted psychiatric services attributed their illness to supernatural causes such as Satan and wrong doing. There were 45 (23.1%) (p=0.003) of those with history of alcohol abuse and 35(17.9%) (p= 0.001) with drug abuse have contacted psychiatric services before receiving traditional healing treatment. History of contact with psychiatric services is common among patient with psychiatric disorders receiving treatment in the THC in central Sudan. Collaboration between psychiatrist and traditional healers is necessary for better management of psychiatric patients.