[From Kosovo to Switzerland: mental health perceptions and practical implications for health professionals]

A survey was conducted in Kosovo between 2002 and 2003 among 57 health professionals. Covered topics encompassed mental health and disease representations and access to mental health care in Kosovo following the war. At the time of the survey, health services were still widely disorganized and uncoordinated at the local level, with poor access to health care. This work shows that mental disorders remain very stigmatizing for patients and their relatives. Benzodiazepines are the first choice medication, to the detriment of other psychotropic categories. Traditional and religious representations of mental disease prevail in the general population. A few recommendations addressed to professionals taking care of Kosovar patients, in Switzerland or elsewhere, are drawn from these results.