A comparison of public attitudes in Britain and Saudi Arabia towards auditory hallucinations.

BACKGROUND

The successful introduction of community interventions is partly dependent on public beliefs about the aetiology and treatment of psychiatric difficulties and tolerance of community integration.

METHOD: This study examined community attitudes towards auditory hallucinations in Saudi Arabia (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK) concerning (a) causes of auditory hallucinations, (b) the efficacy of interventions and (c) levels of social rejection.

RESULTS

Responses from 281 patients attending their general practitioners indicated that those living in Saudi Arabia were most likely to believe that hallucinations are caused by Satan or due to magic, while the UK sample were more likely to cite schizophrenia or brain damage. While the Saudi sample believed that religious assistance would be most effective, the UK sample supported medication and psychological therapies. Beliefs about aetiology and treatment were unrelated to educational attainment. There was a greater degree of social rejection of patients in Saudi Arabia, but here educational attainment was of significance.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that beliefs about aetiology are related to treatment recommendations and social distancing, and thus have implications for the care of Arabic patients living in Western countries as well as for the use of Western interventions in non-Western cultures.