SHACKLES AND STIGMA: TACKLING MENTAL HEALTH IN RURAL UGANDA

Introduction and Objective The patient was brought into the hospital in shackles. She had worn them for 8 years. Every Sunday she was taken to church to pray that the demons would vacate her body. We cut off the shackles and began the slow process of assessing and treating her mental health. 6 weeks later she was able to return home, on the road to recovery and now a functional member of her community again. Inspired by this case a mental health community outreach program was developed in Kanungu District, Uganda. The objective was to explore local perceptions of mental health with the aim of subsequently developing a sensitisation program to reduce stigma and increase engagement with mental health services at Bwindi Community Hospital. Method Meetings were held at community churches across the district with church and community leaders. Surveys and focus groups were conducted to explore their perceptions of mental health and mental health services. Results and Conclusions We discovered multiple misconceptions about the relationship between mental health and religious practices. Based on these discoveries we are now designing and developing interventions to sensitise and empower local leaders to de-stigmatise mental health issues in their communities, identify potential mental health cases and refer mental health patients to mental health services for assessment, treatment and follow up.