Help-seeking from traditional healers in patients with severe mental illness and its relationship with internalized stigma

Background: Help-seeking from traditional healers (TH) is common in patients with severe mental illness. However, the differences between patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are not well-known. Although internalized stigma is also common in patients with severe mental illness, its impact on help-seeking from TH is not studied.

Aim: To investigate help-seeking from TH and the relationship between help-seeking from TH and internalized stigma in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we collected information about help-seeking from TH and clinical characteristics by using a semi-structured interview form from 310 patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in two sites with different socio-cultural backgrounds. We measured internalized stigma by using The Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale.

Results: We found that 47% of the patients visited TH in any phase of their illness, and 46% of them sought help from TH before their first contact with a psychiatrist. Those who grew up in rural areas, were less educated, who attempted suicide before, with resistance to treatment, and with a family member who also admitted to TH were more frequent among the help-seekers from TH. This group also had more hospitalizations and higher Clinical Global Impression scores. Internalized stigma was found to be higher in the schizophrenia group, and it was related to help-seeking from TH and delay in admission to psychiatric facilities.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that help-seeking from TH is common both in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and it has socio-cultural, illness-related, and stigma-related predictors.