title: Complementary treatment of psychotic and epileptic patients in malaysia.
abstract: The objective of this article is to describe and compare the use of traditional/complementary medicine (T/CM) among psychotic (schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder) and epileptic Malay patients in peninsular Malaysia. There were 60 patients in each group. T/CM consultation was uniformly spread across all levels of education and social status. We could not find a single over-riding factor that influenced the decision to seek T/CM treatment because the decision to seek such treatment was complex and the majority of decisions were made by others. Fifty-three patients (44.2%), consisting of 37 (61.7%) psychotic and 16 (26.7%) epileptic patients had consulted Malay traditional healers (bomoh) and/or homeopathic practitioners in addition to modern treatment; of these, only three had consulted bomoh and homeopathic practitioners at the same time. The use of T/CM was significantly higher in psychotic than in epileptic Malay patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia. mrazali@kb.usm.my
authors.forename: Salleh Mohd
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Razali
authors.forename: Azhar Mohd
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Yassin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D003469:Culture; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006705:Homeopathy; D006801:Humans; D008273:Magic; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008518:Medicine, East Asian Traditional; D008602:Mental Healing; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult