Epidemiological findings on prevalence of mental disorders in India.

Fifteen epidemiological studies on psychiatric morbidity in India have been analysed. National all-India prevalence rates for 'all mental disorders' and five specific disorders have been worked out The national prevalence rates for 'all mental disorders' arrived at are 70.5 (rural), 73 (urban) and 73 (rural + urban) per 1000 population. Prevalence of schizophrenia is 2.5/1000 and this seems to be the only disorder whose prevalence is consistent across cultures and over time. Rates for depression, anxiety neurosis, hysteria and mental retardation are provided. Urban morbidity in India is 3.5 percent higher than the rural rate, but rural-urban differences are not consistent for different disease categories. In Hindi speaking north India, mental morbidity amongst factory workers is two and half times that of the non-industrial urban inhabitants and five times the rural morbidity. The present data are expected to serve as baseline rates for mental health planners and for psychiatrists interested in epidemiological studies.

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.

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.