Journal of
eISSN: 2373-6445
Submit manuscript...
Research Article Volume 9 Issue 1
General Background and Attitude of the Saudi Population towards Mental Illness
Malik Jelaidan, Lamees Abu Alkhair, Mohammed Thani, Abdulqader Susi, Raafat Shuqdar
Taibah University, Saudi Arabia
Received: December 16, 2017 | Published: February 7, 2018
Citation: Jelaidan M, Alkhair LA, Thani TM, Susi A, Shuqdar R, et al. (2018) Gener al Background and Attitude of the Saudi Population towards Mental Illness. J Psychol Clin Psychiatry 9(1): 00510. DOI: 10.15406/jpcpy.2018.09.00510
Abstract
Mental illnesses or psychiatric disorders are very common worldwide although, a lot of patients might go undiagnosed and untreated due to the stigma towards mental illness that drives the patients away from seeking medical help.
1.1.Aim: To evaluate the background and attitude of the general population throughout Saudi Arabia about mental illnesses.
1.2.Method: A cross sectional study analyzed data from 5850 participants aged 18 and up. From all 13 districts of Saudi Arabia. The data were collected using self-administered anonymous electronically distributed questionnaire, between the months of April- May of 2017. The data were analyzed using the statistical analysis system (SAS version 9.1; SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Crude associations were assessed using Pearson Chi -square test. P value of less than 0.05 was used to indicate statistically significant differences.
1.3.Result: The mean age of the studied subjects was 28.7 ± 9.8 years. Subjects' background about the general nature of psychiatric disorders was high and exceeding (90%) regarding the nature of psychiatric disorders and whether they are similar or not, a very low percent (7%) showed that psychiatric patients cannot socially adapt while (96.9%) believed that psychiatric patients are considered insane. (52%) believed psychiatrists are affected by their patients on long term exposure.
1.4.Conclusion: The background of Saudi population regarding mental illnesses is considered fair, the attitude towards psychiatric patients need further education to minimize the stigma towards them.
Keywords: General, Background, Attitude, Saudi, Population, Mental, Illness, Psychiatric disorders, Attitude, Friendship, Exaggeration, Islamic community, Public, Psychotherapy, Sex, Nationality, Age
©2018 Jelaidan, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.