Primary Care in Mental Health

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Primary Health Care (PHC) is a key component, not only of countries’ health systems, but also of the general socio-economic structure, according to the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978.

Aim: The aim of this study is the investigation of Primary Care in Mental Health in Greece.

Methodology: A review of studies and articles in the PubMed and Google Scholar databases was conducted as well as their synthesis. The exclusion criterion was the type of article (letter to the publisher and editorial article).

Results: Primary Care in Mental Health in Greece observed to be: lags behind the needs of the population, shortages of staff, mainly specialized mental health nurses or other professionals, a lack of infrastructure mainly in rural areas, underfunding, absence of an evaluation mechanism and ambiguity of the framework for cooperation between services.

Conclusions: It is clear the need for Primary Care in Mental Health in Greece, on the management of mental disorders, the detection of new and the holistic treatment of organic problems which needs further development with the promotion of appropriate programs.

Keywords: Primary health care, mental health, patients