Knowledge of symptoms and treatment of schizophrenia and depression among Kuwaiti population

Abstract EN

Background: Mental health literacy has been defined as the public knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders, enhancing the ability to recognize specific disorders.

Aim: Firstly, to determine the degree of recognition and understanding of schizophrenia and depression in Kuwait 2003.

Secondly, to measure the public attitudes towards various helpers, medical professions, and various treatment modalities.

Method: Three hundred and nine Kuwaiti citizens were interviewed face to face by one of the authors.

Results: The depressive vignette was correctly recognized by (25.8%).

In all (56.6%) mentioned a category within the mental health sphere, where as (45.4%) did not consider any mental health problem.

The schizophrenia vignette was correctly recognized by (3.9%), and a further (16.2%) recognized the condition as depressive episode.

Generally, 53.2% mentioned a category within the mental health sphere.

10.4% considered the condition as a possession by an evil spirit.

In both vignettes a low proportion of the responders considered general practitioners as helpful (25.2% & 11.7% respectively).

On the other hand, family members and close friends were highly rated in both vignettes.