English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Mental and behavioural disorders are prevalent in all societies. The stigma and poor attitude towards mental illness and those with mental illness is well known. Similarly, there also exists poor opinions about psychiatrists and psychiatric medications among people. Non psychiatric doctors act as a bridge between the psychiatrists and mentally ill people. This study was conducted to evaluate the attitudes of non-psychiatric doctors towards psychiatrists, psychiatric medications, and mental illness. METHODS The study design was cross sectional, conducted in a town of Andhra Pradesh. A structured proforma was used to capture the sociodemographic details and to measure attitudes towards psychiatrists and psychiatric medications. We used a questionnaire used by Zieger et al. Similarly, to measure the attitudes towards mental illness, belief towards mental illness (BTMI) used by Hirai and Clum was used. The data was analysed using R language, and results obtained were tabulated and discussed. Data was analysed using non parametric tests. RESULTS There were no significant negative attitudes of non-psychiatrists towards psychiatrists and mental illness. But we found significant negative attitudes expressed by medical specialists (P = 0.035) and those in academic settings (P = 0.020) towards psychiatric medications. On comparing the other demographic details there were no significant negative attitudes towards psychiatric medications. CONCLUSIONS Previous studies have found negative attitudes among non-psychiatrists towards psychiatry, psychiatrists and mental illness. But our study found that there are positive attitudes expressed by non-psychiatric doctors towards psychiatrists and mental illness which is a good sign. We believe this is a changing trend towards positive side when compared to past studies. Future studies should be longitudinal and to keep in focus the new curriculum changes. KEYWORDS Attitudes of Health Personnel, Psychiatry, Mental Disorders