Most relatives of the mentally ill are reluctant to seek treatment for their patients in hospitals and prefer home care, an expert told local media.

The reluctance to take patients to psychiatric hospitals stems from the social stigma attached to mental illness which is thought to be akin to mental disorder, head of home psychiatric care program (HPCP) at Mental Health Hospital in Taif Fuwziyia Al-Hamaidi told a local daily.

Despite the fact that only 5 percent of psychotherapies actually lead to addiction, people strongly believe that mentally ill patients treated in these hospitals will only get worse, she said.

She stated that the Mental Health Hospital in Taif has rendered health care services to some patients at home where they feel safer among family members besides minimizing family visits to the hospital and cutting costs.

She enumerated a number of criteria for the acceptance of patients in the home psychiatric care program (HPCP) including that the patient be referred by his treating doctor, the distance between his house and hospital does not exceed 50 km, the taking of the custodian’s approval for the visiting team to see the patient at home based on a schedule, and the availability of the right home environment for the provision of health care services.

Another expert said home psychiatric care covers certain mental and psychotic cases or those who discontinue treatment following their discharge from hospitals.

The HPCP was originally taken from Amal Hospital in Riyadh and applied in the Mental Health Hospital in Jeddah and served nearly 150 cases, former director of the hospital Adnan Ashur said.

However, the treating team faced many obstacles including patients’ aggression, privacy and social status of families, the expert pointed out.