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Public opinions and beliefs about the treatment of depression in urban Turkey

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Although attitudes towards psychiatric illness influence its presentation, detection, recognition, treatment adherence and rehabilitation, the lay public's opinions and beliefs about the treatment of depression have not been investigated sufficiently.

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine public opinions and beliefs about the treatment of depression and the influence of perception and causal attributions on attitudes towards treatment of depression in urban areas.

Methods

This study was carried out with a representative sample in Istanbul, which is the biggest metropolis in Turkey. Seven hundred and seven subjects completed the public survey form which consisted of 32 items rating attitudes towards depression.

Results

The public believes that psychological and social interventions are more effective than pharmacotherapy, and that the medicines used in treatment of depression are harmful and addictive. There was a general reluctance to consult a physician for depression, and psychiatrists were felt to be more helpful than general practitioners. The public viewed depression as treatable. A high educational level and perceiving depression as a disease is associated with positive beliefs and opinions about the treatment of depression; but the perception of depressive patients as aggressive is associated with negative beliefs and opinions about the treatment of depression.

Conclusion

The beliefs that “psychological and social interventions are more effective than pharmacotherapy” and “antidepressants are harmful and addictive” must specifically be taken into account in clinical practice and in anti-stigma campaigns. Additional studies are needed to understand the public's tendency to conceptualise depression as a psychosocial problem. In clinical practice, depression should be introduced as a bio-psychosocial disease whatever its cause: biological, psychological or social. In addition, the differences between extreme worry and disease, and the lack of aggressiveness of depressive patients, must be emphasised.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Psychiatry, Celal Bayar University Medical School, Manisa, Turkey

    Erol Ozmen MD (Prof.)

  2. 200 Sokak, No:76, D:3, Hatay-Izmir, Turkey

    Erol Ozmen MD (Prof.)

  3. Bakirköy State Hospital for Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases, Istanbul, Turkey

    Kultegin Ogel MD & Defne Tamar MD

  4. Dept. of Psychiatry, Kocaeli University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey

    Tamer Aker MD

  5. Zubeyde Hanım Medical and Research Center, Baskent University Izmir, Izmir, Turkey

    Afsın Sagduyu MD

  6. Dept. of Psychiatry, Kirikkale University Medical School, Kirikkale, Turkey

    Cumhur Boratav MD

Authors
  1. Erol Ozmen MD
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  2. Kultegin Ogel MD
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  3. Tamer Aker MD
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  4. Afsın Sagduyu MD
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  5. Defne Tamar MD
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  6. Cumhur Boratav MD
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Correspondence to Erol Ozmen MD.

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Ozmen, E., Ogel, K., Aker, T. et al. Public opinions and beliefs about the treatment of depression in urban Turkey. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 40, 869–876 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-005-0985-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-005-0985-x

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