The prevalence of mental illnesses in society is difficult to measure accurately as current techniques are relatively poor. Mental health professionals argue that data provided by Ministry of Health of Georgia concerning the prevalence of mental illnesses should be treated with great caution as the official rates of mental disorders are likely to be largely underestimated. The most significant reason of this could be focusing on referral to state mental health institution and ignoring the private sector. In order to understand the gap between official data and real needs in mental health care we compare statistical data of state institutions and private practice. The structured questionnaire was used for obtaining referral information from the Asatiani Psychiatric Hospital, Gotsiridze Psycho-Neurological Dispensary and a private psychiatrist.
Results: The state institutions with great proportion serve patients with schizophrenia, schizotypal, delusional and organic mental disorders, while patient with mood disorder and neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders preferred private psychiatrist. People with different psychiatric problems (e.g. sleep and eating disorders), especially young and elderly patients seldom are seen by psychiatrist.
Conclusions: Hence, the official data concerning the prevalence of mental illnesses in Georgia are highly underestimated and could not reflect real demands.