Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Author(s): Benedetto Saraceno, Fabrizio Asioli, Alessandro Liberati and Gianni Tognoni
Source: Caribbean Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Dec., 1988), pp. 91-100
Published by: Institute of Caribbean Studies, UPR, Rio Piedras Campus
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25612949 .
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Benedetto Saraceno,
Fabrizio Asioli,
Aiessandro
Liberati,
Gianni Tognoni
InMental
Cooperation
Health: an Intallan
Project InNicaragua
ABSTRACT
in urban
differences between organization and patterns of care seen
and rural areas. The traditional psychiatric concept of post traumatic
stress is criticized.
Introduction
Over the last few years health has increasingly become one of themain
focused of the attention of the international community for twomain reasons
(1):
-
it has
proven a dramatic
relationship
somethingforthedeprivedpopulationof theSouth
92
CARIBBEAN
STUDIES,
21:3-4, 1988
as
2)
for exportation
that is "naturally" available
very that the package
to
to
think
and
is
used
one
which
practice
routinely
psychiatry)
(the
far from being scientifically
is a sum of a series of "assumptions"
validated. The result of this research attitude is the rediscovery that
of doubts, which extend to theory, tools,
psychiatry is a cross-roads
practice
3)
(3-5);
the logical process which led to the "essential drug concept" proves
to psychiatry. An essential
to be perfectly applicable
approach
a
as
Italso
declares the reality
permanent object of experimentation.
the
and
with
what
results
implies the verification of whether, how,
and
related to the health structures, patients needs,
variables
intervention tools interact inthe concrete fieldconditions. The poverty
of the situation imposes a monitoring and surveillance, attitudes where
the adoption of epidemiology
7) becomes mandatory;
linkto psychiatry
4) along the same line, Primary Health Care' (PHC's)
does not appear and option but the obvious "conditio sine qua non" for
the continuity and not the
a psychiatric strategy assuming
care
as
most
its
appropriate reference framework (8
fragmentation of
10).
MENTAL HEALTH
INNICARAGUA
93
field(11).
2. General framework
The Somoza dictatorship had leftto the victorious Sandinists-led
revolution
of 1979 a dramaticallysimplified
heritage (12).
popular
Apart froma rudimentary circuit of private care for the very fewwho could
in one structure, the national
afford it, psychiatry was concentrated
of
where
three
psychiatric hospital
Managua
psychiatrists were incharge of
were
whom
of
132
chronic
400
in-patients
(more than five years of
institutionalisation). The custodial model
in its fullexpression
was
the rule,
withpatientsdefinitely
cutofffromtheir
environment
and extensiveuse ofall
the traditional concentration
intensive use
treatments,
(13).
discharged
94
CARIBBEAN
STUDIES,
21:3-4, 1988
done
In thewords of Halperin and Garf ield: "in just three years, more has been
inmost areas of social welfare than in50 years of dictatorship under
A twoyear fieldtraining
planwas accepted by theMinistryof Health,
to expose all the psychiatric teams inthe fledgling care network to intensive
run by members
courses
of the research group in close
2-3 weeks
collaboration with national representatives of the mental health sector.
A small number (five) ofmental health workers had also the opportunity
Italian psychiatric institutions to gain
of spending 1 -2 months in selected
direct experience which the organization of the services and to obtain
documentary material for pre and post graduate teaching. The search for
and verification of the "essential" are based on supervision of the team's
epidemiological
involved.
MENTAL HEALTH
INNICARAGUA
95
2) emergency
3) rehabilitation
strategies;
4) psychopharmacology;
5)
team
work
methodology
and
its
implications
for structural
organization;
6) need and feasibility of the adoption
in routine practice.
of epidemiological
instruments
96
CARIBBEAN
STUDIES,
21:3-4, 1988
inwhich
carried out.
however
Fromthepointofviewof theservices geographicdistribution
in rural areas.
on the few
care between
While patients seen at rural services were, inthe aggregate, youger than
in terms of
those cared for in urban facilities other differences emerged
reasons forvisit and related diagnoses
indicating that a picture consistout
with "minor psychiatric disorders" was more frequent in urban services.
still in
inconsistencies
Finally, drugs prescription pattern showed same
urban services where antidepressants were prescribed with a frequency
largely inexcess
distribution.
have expected
looking at diagnosis
MENTAL HEALTH
INNICARAGUA
97
TABLE 1
Essential
findings
areas
Urban
Age
-30 yrs
Income
Family supported
Reasons
for visit1
Family confict
% War related problems
Symptoms
% With anxiety and/or
depression
Diagnoses
% With neurotic
depression2
% With schizophrenia
Prescription
% Of antidepressant
1 The
Intervals
reference
Rural
areas
43%
57%
69%
27%
45%
49%
19%
9%
12%
18%
57%
44%
28%
4%
13%
11%
34%
14%
sources
% Self supporting
%
particular
(Cl) 1.09-3.8)
urban services.
2 This difference
this diagnosis
corresponded
in urban services.
to a 70%
doubled
problems
increased
(Relative
halved
rish (PR)=2.0,95%
Confidence
95% CI-0.23-0.92)
in
(RR=0.4,
probability
(RR=1.7,95%
CI-1.1
-2.7) of
5. Discussion
The experience which we described forNicaragua represents a situation
of which may be classified as original, interesting, ifnot
aspects
unique for the discussion of the relationship between a stress, a society,
and psychiatry.
many
The country represents and summarizes what can be expected from the
interaction of different types of Stressors: a two generations
long and most
repressive dictatorship, a state of war which has gone on for years, the
structural condition of a very poor developing country.
Because
of itssmallness, the country may be the object of a comprehen
sive observation to allow the epidemiological
evaluation of the interplay
between the needs of thewhole population (not only of subgroups) and the
overall project of a public health policy (23).
With the obvious exclusion of the "standard" and most of the times hidden
acute pathology which is expected
to occur within the army, what has
98
CARIBBEAN
STUDIES,
21:3-4, 1988
definite and
perceived with
to stress would
tric pathology
losers" appear
INNICARAGUA
MENTAL HEALTH
99
That is,the observed differences between town and country inthe peculiar
that an emotional surrounding positively
Nicaraguan
setting suggest
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BIOGRAFIAS
*
Benedetto
Mental
the Board
Collaborative
Centre.
ServicesofReggioEmilia(Italy).
head of theOutpatient
Asioii isa psychiatrist,
Fabrizio
Psychiatric
formentally ill,he has been involved as senior scientist in
of Italian health agencies
project. His main areas of interests are psychiatric services, organization and
of psychiatric emergency.
management
Consultant
the Nicaragua
Liberati, had his M.D. degree in 1978. He spent a two-year training period inn the US
at the Department of Epidemiology of the Harvard School of Public Health. His main areas of
interest are health services research and health program evaluation, and in these areas he is
presently involved in several studies in Italy relative to the evaluation of quality of care inon
Alessandro
Gianni
Tognoni,
survey.
is the Head
Pharmacology
are documented in
more
His interestsinthefieldofdrug investigation
inMilan, Italy.
Institute
scientific articles
and cover
consultant
pharmacokinetics,
drug epidemiology,
of theWHO working group on essential
invarious
fieldmissions
and
drug
inLatina America, African,