[Where do people with mental disorders are looking for help?].

This article presents and discusses the concept of "pathway to psychiatric care". According to literature review, only few people, who meet criteria for mental disorders, reach psychiatrists. Therefore it is important to identify institutions where people with mental disorders look for help. On the basis of World Health Organization programme "Pathway study" authors present institutions in different countries all over the world, which are involved in helping people with mental disorders. In all European centers taken part in the "Pathway study" most of the people who reached psychiatrists had been consulted in primary healthcare first. Project "Pathway study" has been the first research programme related with this topic. It has initiated similar studies in different centers all over the world. Results of those studies show, where outside psychiatric institutions, it is possible to diagnose and treat mentally ill people.