Senior Resident, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre & Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

Abstract

Treatment-seeking patterns of patients with ‘Dhat syndrome’ is highly diverse. They often make multiple visits with various types of health care providers in search of help. Usually, consultations are made with several indigenous healers, vaids, hakims, sex specialists and practitioners of alternative medicine for relief, before reaching a psychiatric health facility. As an enormous time gets wasted in finding the appropriate care provider for the problem, there is a need for incorporating an efficient and effective referral mechanism to speed up access to psychiatric care in patients with ‘Dhat syndrome’.