F. Araniva García1.
1Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social, Salud Mental, San Salvador, El Salvador.

Objectives:

To describe the history of psychiatry in El Salvador.
To analyze from a historical perspective the psychiatry as a speciality of medicine in El Salvador.
To compare the historical development of psychiatry in El Salvador in the field of public health, social security and private practice.
To describe the history of the Salvadoran Psychiatric Association and those who have been its presidents.


Background:
El Salvador is the smallest country of the continental America, and have only two psychiatrist hospital: One is part of the national public health system and the other one is part of the social security network. In the past there were private hospitals of psychiatry, none at this time (March 2019) but in El Salvador many psychiatrist has private practice. 

Materials and Methods:
A systematic review was made of books of the history of psychiatry in El Salvador and news in the national newspaper library.

Results and Conclusions:
It is a systematic description of the history of psychiatry in El Salvador that reveals the presence of psychiatry since the beginning of the republic period.
Since the year 1880 in the factulty of medicine at the University of El Salvador have been theses related to psychiatry and mental health issues.
The presence of Salvadoran Psychiatric Association since the year of 1976.
Since the year of 1983 the Salvadoran Psychiatric Association its part of the World Psychiatric Association.
The first private hospital of psychiatry in El Salvador was founded in 1965.
Thorughout history since 1977, 15 salvadoran psychiatrists have been presidents of the Salvadoran Psychiatric Association.

Keywords:
History
psychiatry
El Salvador
public health
Private practice

HISTORY OF PSYCHIATRY AND MENTAL HEALTH IN EL SALVADOR. A PERSPECTIVE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, SOCIAL SECURITY AND PRIVATE PRACTICE