The beneficial effects of amineptine (Survector 100) in the treatment of depression: preliminary results of an Indian multicenter trial.

A multicenter study of the efficacy and safety of amineptine in the treatment of depression has been performed in India. Patients fulfilling the DSM-III criteria for depression were included in this open clinical trial and treated with amineptine for 6 weeks. They received one 100-mg tablet or two (100 mg) tablets of amineptine per day. Efficacy of treatment was assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating scale on D0, D7, D14, D21, D35, and D42. Liver function and cardiovascular function were examined on D0 and D42 to assess possible adverse effect of treatment. The preliminary results in 32 patients showed that amineptine was effective as soon as the 7th day of treatment and that this effect improved continuously throughout the study. Amineptine was found to be safe.

Epidemic koro in West Bengal, India.

The present study draws attention to the recent sudden outbreak of Koro in epidemic form in the rural areas of West Bengal, India. The details of three such cases are reported.

An opinion survey about the causes and treatment of mental illness and the social acceptance of the mentally ill patients.

In the present study assessment of Public Opinion of two groups, relatives and non-relatives attending the out patient department with the patients, were done. Analysis of the data revealed that both groups held heredity as the cause of mental illness and both groups preferred, significantly the efficacy of Psychiatric treatment like E.C.T. and drugs to that of Homoeopathic and Ayurvedic treatment, Magic and faith healing procedure, not preferred to any significant extent. Regarding efficacy of treatment of the mentally ill we find that significantly more number of relatives did favour E.C.T. and drugs. Psychotherapy has yet to make a mark.

The vulnerability of Indian women to suicide a field-study.

58 cases of suicide were recorded in one year in a cluster of villages comprising a police-station area. The incidence was 43.4 per lakh. Women out numbered men. Two-thirds of the victims were aged below 25 years. In women the commonest cause of suicide was quarrel with husband and in men it was quarrel with parents. Poisoning with insecticide was the mode of suicide in an overwhelming majority of cases. The situational, psychological and socio-cultural perspectives have been discussed.

Effects of total solar eclipse on mental patients-a clinicobiochemical correlation.

Thirteen treated psychotic cases comprising of eight schizophrenic, four M.D.P. (manic type) and one M. D. P. (depressive type), who were clinically symptom free, were studied in respect of their hormones and behavioural abnormalities under effect of total solar eclipse. Of the hormones studied viz., T(2), T(4), TSH, Cortisol and prolactin, it is prolactin which showed an increase in titre associated with behavioural abnormalities in concerned patients during and immediately after the total solar eclipse. Deflection in both prolactin and behaviour gradually seemed to normalise over the post eclipse period.

Urbanization and mental morbidity in certain tribal communities in west bengal.

The same team of workers surveyed a rural and an urban sample of the same tribe (Santal) by the same method. It was found that urbanization had little effect on the total mental morbidity. But stress-dependent disorders were commoner in the urban tribe.

A study of psychiatric morbidity of a rural community at an interval of ten years.

A field survey of psychiatric morbidity was conducted in a village by a door to door survey. The survey was repeated after 10 years by the same team and by the same method. The aim was to compare the rates of mental morbidity of the community at the interval of a decade and to trace out during the second survey all the persons - both ill and well - found in the first survey and to assess their mental health status.Though the total morbidity did not change from 1972 to 1982 there was a definite rise in the rates of morbidity of Hysteria and Anxiety showed a slight fall in 1982. The health population of 1972 traced and assessed in 1982 showed a lower rate of morbidity than the total population of 1982. The rate of recovery of the morbid stock assessed after ten years was about 29 % and as many as 14.8% of the morbid people died during this period. This death rate is much higher than that of healthy population assessed after ten years (h.9%). 47.8% of the cases detected in the first survey were found to be ill during the second survey richer with the same diagnosis or with a new diagnosis.

A clinical evaluation of depressives found in a rural survey in India.

Those who were labelled as depressives in a rural survey were randomly divided into a Medicine group (who received antidepressive drug treatment), a Placebo group (who received placebo) and a Natural Process group (who received no treatment). The depth of their depression was assessed by Hamilton's Depressive Rating Scale before the beginning of the trial, on the 14th day and on the 28th day of trial. They were compared with a matched group of healthy controls and again with a matched group of depressives who attended an urban clinic for treatment. The results indicate that the rural depressives who never sought treatment voluntarily were not different from those who sought treatment in clinics, so far as their response to treatment is concerned.

Thyroid function in different psychiatric disorders.

Thyroid function viz. estimation of T(3), T(4) & TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) were studied in cases of depression, mania and schizophrenia, each category numbering thirty one. These values were compared with corresponding values estimated in norm.al control group of individuals of identical age, sex and socio economic status. The depressives and schizophrenics showed subclinical or chemical hypothyroidism while the manic showed slightly higher values for T(3), and T(4), when compared to normal control subjects.

Mental morbidity and urban life-an epidemiological study.

A survey of the mental morbidity of an urban group and two rural groups was made with the same method, same operational definition of a case and by the same team. The aim was to find out the nature and extent of the difference in their rates of morbidity and to identify the psychosocial variables associated with this difference. It was found that the rate of total morbidity was significantly higher in the urban group than in the rural groups. Psychosis was, however, commoner among the Brahmins, a rural group. The wide difference in the rates of mental morbidity between the urban and rural groups was mainly due to the difference in the rate of neurosis (165.3/1000, 51.6/1000 and 1.5/1000 respectively). The rate of neurosis in its turn was considered to be positively correlated with certain psychosocial characteristics irrespective of urban or rural residence of the group concerned.

Thyroid function in depression.

Studies on thyroid functions were performed on patients suffering from depression and compared with normal control group. 31 different cases of depression were studied for their thyroid function andshowed a diminished level of T(3) and T(4) with a concomitant rise in TSH level. When the female population of these 31 cases was compared with their male counterparts the females showed a significantly lower thyroidal functional status than the males.

Socio-economic status and mental morbidity in certain tribes and castes in India--a cross-cultural study.

The authors made a field-survey of mental morbidity in all the tribal and caste groups residing in a cluster of villages in West Bengal, India, and found that, in each group, higher socio-economic classes had higher rates of mental morbidity. Different groups having a similar cultural pattern showed no significant difference in their rates of morbidity. Groups having different cultural patterns differed significantly in their rates of morbidity. In the tribal groups some neurotic disorders were absent.

Socio-economic status and prevalence of mental disorders in certain rural communities in India.

A psychiatric field-survey was conducted in three villages in West Bengal, India in order to correlate the prevalence of mental morbidity with the socio-economic status of the families. The sample was divided into four groups on the basis of religion or caste. Total morbidity had no statistically significant relationship with socio-economic status in any of the four groups. In the total sample it was directly related. Higher classes had significantly higher rates. Psychoses were not correlated with socio-economic status in any of the groups. Neuroses showed a significantly higher rate in the upper strata of two groups; in the other two groups the trend of prevalence was in the same direction. The four groups had significant differences in their rates of total morbidity. In all the groups females had a higher rate of mental morbidity. Psychoses, Neuroses and Depression were commoner in females and Schizophrenia was commoner in males.

Certain aspects of drug abuse-an epidemiological study.

Certain aspects of drug abuse have been presented from the pooled data of psychiatric epidemiological surveys conducted by the authors in the rural areas of West Bengal.

Psychiatric morbidity in an urbanized tribal (santal) community - a field survey.

Psychiatric morbidity was studied in an urbanized tribal (Santal) community comprising 205 families in the district of Nadia, West Bengal by the method of door to door survey of each family by a team of psychiatrists. Total morbidity was 519 1000. Depression was the commonest type of illness. Neurotic illness, epilepsy and mental retaliation had a very low rate of prevalence. Married individuals were more attached than the unmarried ones. Males had a slightly higher rate of mental morbidity. The population showed a general tendency of greater vulnerability to mental illness with advancing age. Results are discussed in the perspective of relevant studies.