Introduction
Welcome to Psycho Mednet Hellas, the Mental Health page of Mednet
Hellas.
Mednet Hellas is a project of the Athens Medical Society which aims
at :
offering information services to Greek Medical professionals
advancing the communication between Greek doctors wherever they live
and practice
and promoting Greek Medicine all over the World
Psycho Mednet Objectives
The specific objectives of Psycho Mednet include the following
:
To provide up-to-date information about Mental Health and Behavioral
disorders to the general public in Greece
To enhance the communication between psychiatric and non-psychiatric
physicians especially for disorders that need a multidisciplinary approach
To offer research material in Mental Health professionals in Greece
To establish a connection between Mental Health professionals in Greece
and their colleagues of Greek origin working overseas
To offer Mental Health professionals throughout the World information
about the state of Mental Health and Psychiatry in Greece and to help them
locate information and contact people they need particularly for research
reasons.
Mental Health Services in Greece
Mental Health Services are offered in Greece both by the public
and the private sector.
The Greek state-funded National Health Service (NHS) owns a number of
special psychiatric hospitals for the provision of secondary and tertiary
care.
Tertiary care is also offered by many private hospitals and the university
affiliated clinics in the regions where medical schools exist.
The last ten years a number of Psychiatric departments in General Hospitals
have been developed in the major cities of Greece that can provide a range
of services including inpatients services.
Primary care and outpatients services are offered in Greece by the few
Community Mental Health Centres, doctors in private practice and in the
outpatients clinics of the psychiatric departments of the general hospitals.
There is a general agreement that Mental Health services in Greece should
be expanded in the future. The main problems identified are inequalities
in mental health care provision between different regions of Greece, inefficient
organization of primary care and insufficient number of psychiatric beds
especially for diseases of the elderly.
Mental Health Research in Greece
Mental Health Research in Greece is well developed though it is concentrated
in few university departments.
Topics investigated by Greek researchers include mainly biological causes
of psychiatric disorders and epidemiological research.
Psycho Mednet has collected over 500 abstracts published by Greek psychiatrists
in indexed journals the past 15 years. Anyone interested in research done
by Greek psychiatrists should search this index.
Psychiatric Disorders in Greece
Epidemiological studies in the community have shown that 14 - 16 % of
the general population in Greece suffer from a psychiatric disorder, a
figure which is similar to that obtained in other western populations.
The prevalence of regural drinking is quite high in the general population
(54% for males and 18.5% for women). Use of illicit drugs is about 5% with
hashish the most commonly used substance.
In a study in primary care (part of the large WHO collaborative study
for psychological problems in primary care) the one-month prevalence of
psychiatric disorders was 22%. The most common diagnoses were generalized
anxiety disorder (14.9%, current depression (6.4 %), neurasthenia (4.6%),
and harmful use of alcohol(3.5%). The recognition of psychological problems
by primary care doctors was only 17%, one of the lowest across the participating
centers.
Selected References of Epidemiological Research In Greece :
Mavreas et al. (1986). Prevalence of Psychiatric disorders in Athens
: a community study. Social Psychiatry, 21:172-181
Madianos et al. (1985). Prevalence of Psychological disorders in the Athens
area : prediction of causal factors. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica,
71:479-487
Mavreas et al. (1995). Results from the Athens centre. In Ustun and Sartorious
(eds), Mental Ilness in General Health Care. John Wiley & Sons
Ltd
Further Information
We are happy to provide you, if possible,
with information you need.You can e-mail
PsychoMednet directly.
Mental Health Professionals of Greek origin
If you are a Mental Health professional of Greek
origin, living and working outside Greece, we would like to know about
you and your work. Please e-mail
us for further information.
Greek Page
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Editor :
Petros Skapinakis, MD, MPH
