DOHA: Seeing a psychiatrist, even if one suffers from a serious illness and needs urgent medical attention, can be a social embarrassment in this part of the world.
A psychiatrist says that due to the social stigma many people ask him to see them in private in hospitals that don’t have psychiatry clinics so no one would suspect.
Dr Adil Zara says many urge him to see them in some other clinic in a hospital that doesn’t have a psychiatric clinic.
In remarks published in local Arabic daily Al Watan recently, Dr Zara said seeing a psychiatrist is a social taboo in this part of the world. “That’s the reason why general practitioners or medical specialists don’t refer a patient to a psychiatrist even if they know there is a problem and the person needs psychiatric attention.
“It is very rare to see a doctor referring a patient to a psychiatrist,” said Dr Zara. “What we need is social awareness.”
Education has nothing to do with such a tendency. In other words, even if a person is highly educated, he could ignore a psychiatric disease and not see a psychiatrist. There are two types of people: One who are aware of their problem and know that it is psychiatric and ignore seeing a psychiatrist; Two, those who don’t know they have a psychiatric illness. There is a strong link between mental diseases and physical disorders, said Dr Zara.
A citizen, Abdullah Al Khaleel, said many people with psychiatric problems rely on religion for treatment and turn to doctors only when the problem gets out of hand.
Mamdooh Al Shammari, another national, said people think if they see a psychiatrist they would be looked down upon as ‘mad’ by others. “This is a general social perception. People usually don’t consider a psychiatric problem a clinical disease that needs treatment.” Many people know they have a serious psychiatric problem and yet they ignore seeing a psychiatrist, he said.
Another citizen identified only by his family name Al Kubaisi, said: “We need to change this perception through social awareness”.
The Peninsula
