Pathway of psychiatric care in Hong Kong.

It is estimated that over 15% of the general population suffer from some form of mental disorder.1 According to the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative, up to 50.3% of persons with serious mental disorder in developed countries and 85.3% in less developed countries receive no psychiatric treatment.2 Early intervention reduces the risk of relapse and suicide, inpatient treatment, medication use, disruption to family and employment/development, and cost of treatment.2 It is important to understand the helpseeking behaviour of such persons and to identify the factors that delay acquisition of psychiatric care, including individual factors (severity of symptoms and concepts about mental disorders), social factors (social support, social disadvantage, cultural factors), and health system factors (organisation and accessibility of health services, referral system). A pathway study chronologically records the care received before presenting to specialist psychiatric services, providing information of different levels of filters and association between delays and clinicodemographic factors of patients.3 We conducted a territory-wide study to examine the help-seeking behaviour of people with mental health problems, and to elucidate the factors that delay or speed up this process.