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The Integration of Mental Health Care in Rural Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Alex Keivahn Smith Open the ORCID record for Alex Keivahn Smith [Opens in a new window]
Alex Keivahn Smith*
Affiliation:
Yale University
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Abstract

Iran’s rural mental health care system emerged in a context that included experiments in health care prior to the 1979 Revolution and the establishment of a primary health care (PHC) system after the Revolution. Beginning in the 1980s, Iran integrated mental health care into the existing PHC system by treating mental illness much like a communicable disease. Iran advanced treatment options compatible with the existing system, added new training for existing care providers, and incorporated specialists. The integration of mental health care led to the rapid improvement of health outcomes. The integration also created the unintended consequence of privileging pharmaceutical treatments and overlooking mental illnesses affected by somatization.

Keywords

Health CareMental HealthPsychiatryPsychologyPublic Health SystemCommunity Health WorkerPrimary Health Care
Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 1-2: Special Section: Medicine and Public Health in Modern Iran: Historical and Sociological Perspectives , March 2020 , pp. 93 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2019

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Footnotes

The author would like to thank Professors Kevan Harris, Mirjam Künkler, and Amineh Mahallati for their help in making this research and work possible.

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