It was shameful and sometimes dangerous to admit that someone in the family had mental problems. Mental health care institutions in the Soviet Union were unofficially under KGB supervision. There was always fear that one could be forcibly placed in a mental clinic. Traditional healing Herbal and folk medicine are applied in the former Soviet Union along with conventional medicine. Folk medicine is used more in rural areas where health services and medicines are not readily available.
Folk medicine is considered by many to be less harmful than chemical medication.
The focus of medicine in the former Soviet republics is on revealing causes of a disease. Soviet Jewish refugee patients sometimes feel U.S. doctors have little interest in the cause but instead try to treat the disease only. Most Soviet Jewish refugees are highly educated people. They will soon understand and adjust to the U.S. health care system. Whether they trust their doctor depends on his or her personality, concern, professionalism and awareness of the differences in providing health care services.