Psychiatric Problems and Attitude toward Them in the 6th District of Tehran: A Cross-Sectional Study

The aim of this study is to investigate the psychological problems and the attitudes of the families residing in the 6th district of Tehran toward psychiatric illnesses. an individual over the age of 15 from 1830 families (586 males and 1244 females) out of 59112 families residing in the 6th district were recruited through stratified random sampling procedure and were administered the demographic questionnaire, SCL-90, and the Attitude Questionnaire. The data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-test, and analysis of variance. 535 people (29.2%) have shown one or more mental health problems. The prevalence has been higher among women (30.4%) than men (26.8%). Also the results of the Attitude Questionnaire have revealed that believing in the incurability of psychiatric problems (20.7%), the effectiveness of marriage in recovering from psychiatric illnesses (59.4%), and the addictiveness of psychotropic medications (85.4) have been more prevalent than other items. The high prevalence of psychiatric problems, negative attitudes toward mental illness, drug abuse and seizure disorders in the families residing in the district indicate the necessity of prevention and treatment of these problems and improvement of the attitudes of these families.