Abstract
BackgroundMental illness has brought great economic burden related to misdiagnosis by non-mental health professionals in general hospitals. The aim of this study was to explore non-mental health professionals’ conceptions related to the identification of mental illness and perceived treatments, first aid and prognosis.MethodsIn 2014–2015, we presented 1123 non-mental health professionals from six general hospitals in Hunan Province with one of three vignettes describing a person with schizophrenia, depression, or generalized anxiety disorder. Identification rates, beliefs about various interventions, best methods, and the prognosis with or without treatment were measured.ResultsLess than 60% of the non-mental health professionals could identify the mental disorders correctly. Psychiatrists and psychologists were considered to be the people who would be most helpful in all vignettes. Over 70% of participants identified the correct medication for each vignette. Participants gave higher ratings to lifestyle interventions than to psychological and medical interventions, especially in the depression and generalized anxiety disorder vignettes. For the question about how the person could best be helped, about half of the participants rated listening or talking with the person more highly than accompanying the person to professional help or encouraging the person to visit a psychiatrist or psychologist. Participants believed that, with professional help, the people in the vignettes would fully recover but that problems would probably reoccur and that, without professional help, the people described would get worse.ConclusionsThe beliefs that non-mental health professionals hold about mental disorders are inadequate to provide appropriate help. There is an urgent need for mental health education campaigns to improve non-mental health professionals’ mental health knowledge in mainland China in order to provide better support for mental health service users.
Highlights
Mental health has always been a challenging public health issue
In 2014–2015, we presented 1123 non-mental health professionals from six general hospitals in Hunan Province with one of three vignettes describing a person with schizophrenia, depression, or generalized anxiety disorder
Less than 60% of the non-mental health professionals could identify the mental disorders correctly
Summary
Mental health has always been a challenging public health issue. Mental and substance disorders accounted for 6.6% of global disability-adjusted life years and 18.9% of global years lived with disability, making them among the leading causes of the non-communicable disease burden in 2015 [1,2]. With the rapid development of the economy and of society, common mental disorders (e.g. anxiety disorder and depression) and psychological behavioral disorders are increasing, leading to severe challenges in mental health work in mainland China. According to the 2015–2020 National Mental Health Work Plan of China there were 1650 specialized mental health institutions, 228,000 psychiatric beds with an average of 1.71 for 100,000 population (4.36 for 100,000 population globally) and over 20,000 psychiatrists nationally; most of these resources were distributed at the provincial or municipal levels, and a community-based rehabilitation system for mental disorders has not yet been established [4]. Mental illness has brought great economic burden related to misdiagnosis by non-mental health professionals in general hospitals. The aim of this study was to explore non-mental health professionals’ conceptions related to the identification of mental illness and perceived treatments, first aid and prognosis
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