Use of the social services for mental health purposes in a rural and an urban area in Norway

The psychiatric reforms in most Western countries require a definition of the mental health system that include agencies such as the GPs and the social services. Analysis of help seeking addressed to the social services in tao very different areas in Norway, the rural Lofoten region in. Northern-Norway and an urban borough in. Oslo (Southern Norway) show that more people say they have sought help for mental health problems from social workers than from mental health professionals. HSCL-25-ratings exceed a definition of being in need of intervention for 18% of those having at least once contacted a social worker in Lofoten and 30% in Oslo. Seeking help from a social worker for mental health purposes is strongly related to contacting the social services due to economic problems. Seeking help for economic reasons thus is a context for exposing other kinds of problems. Social workers extensive contact with people experiencing psychosocial adversities must be reflected in their training as well as have consequences for the position of the social services within the mental health systems, and on the liaison-services of community psychiatry.