Abstract:
The subject of this study (N=405) were patients who sought psychiatric treatment at the
Department of psychological medicine at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka over a period
of 3 months. Traditional practitioners are consulted at some stage by many psychiatric
patients. Consultation of a traditional practitioner was significantly higher in among patients
with low income and those with a psychiatric disorder. There was no significant different in
the age, sex, marital status ,occupation and education level between those who consulted
and those who hadn't consulted a traditional practitioner. There was no significant difference
between the proportions of patients who delayed more than 6 months to seek psychiatric
treatment in the group that sought traditional treatment initially and those who did not use it
at any instance.
