Task-shifting and organization of psychiatric services in a low-resource context: Using peer therapy at a mental rehabilitation center in Fès as a case study

In this contribution, we will address the challenges that psychological and psychiatric services have to face in a low-resource context. Despite its large and young population made up of approximately thirty million inhabitants, Morocco has no more than 350 psychiatrists, 60 clinical psychologists, about 400 nurses specializing in psychiatry, and social workers. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in Morocco there are an average of about 9 health-workers in the field of mental health per 100,000 persons. This shortage of specialized health-workers dramatically contrasts with the burden of mental disorders (which have a prevalence of 48.9% in Morocco, with depression affecting an estimated 26.5% of the general population). Psychiatric cures can be ensured, notwithstanding these hurdles, if a public health perspective is assumed. In resource limited settings, working in the field of mental health calls up for putting oneself on the line, exposing to new experiences and re-organizing one’s own skills and expertise. The Italian scholar Camillo Golgi, a prominent researcher of the brain, was used to say that a poor laboratory but rich of ideas is preferable to a rich laboratory without ideas. In particular, in the present contribution we will use our clinical experience at a rehabilitation center in Fès (the association NOUR) as a case study and we will show how to use peer therapy in order to overcome the drawbacks that we daily encounter in a setting of limited resources

Référence3304
Année2016
TypeArticle
Lien externehttp://www.europsy-journal.com/article/S0924-9338(16)01796-X/fulltext
Disciplines associéesPsychiatrie, Autres
AuteurKhabbache H
Auteurs associésBragazzi N, Rammouz I
DisciplineFaculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Dhar El Mehraz Fes
Référence Revue33:S608