Social Psychiatry, Vol. 51 No. 1, 2023.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.24869/spsih.2023.30
Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health in Montenegro: Socio-genesis of Mental Disorders in a Transitional Society
Mehmed Đečević
orcid.org/0000-0003-4571-195X
; Faculty of Political Sciences, Study Programme for Social Policies ad Social Work, University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro
Abstract
In psychiatry, the social model recognises the socio-genetic axis of the etiology of mental disorders. Research conducted
in the western countries generally indicates that disorders within the range of psychotic and depressive categories affect
members of the lower socioeconomic strata. For the needs of this paper, a quasi-experimental research was conducted
in order to describe the socioeconomic status of psychiatric patients in Montenegrin society, which can be categorised as
transitional, and to underline the socio-etiological axis of the genesis of mental disorders in the aforementioned social
context. The control sample consisted of research participants who have not been diagnosed with a mental disorder,
whereas the experimental sample consisted of individuals who have been diagnosed with a psychotic or depressive
disorder. The results of the study indicate the intertwined nature of social and psychiatric issues within Montenegrin
society: psychiatric patients were from families of a lower socioeconomic status, and burdened with a number of
socioeconomic issues, such as those of a residential character. Taking into consideration both theoretical and practical
knowledge brought about by the social model in psychiatry together with the results of our study, it is our conclusion that
the incidence and prevalence of mental disorders in a transitional society could be influenced by interventions in the field
of social policy.
Keywords
Socioeconomic Status; Psychosis; Depression; Social Psychiatry
Hrčak ID:
304501
URI
Publication date:
21.6.2023.
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