Nearly 14% Indians are mentally ill, reveals Nimhans study

[email protected] (CD Network)
October 12, 2016

Bengaluru, Oct 12: A nationwide study conducted by National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (Nimhans) has revealed a shocking prevalence of mental illness in India. At least 13.7 per cent of India's general population has been projected to be suffering from a variety of mental illnesses; and 10.6 per cent of this requires immediate intervention.

indiaIn all, nearly 150 million Indians are in a need of active medical intervention, according to the study, submitted by Nimhans to the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Monday.

Concerned over the growing problem of mental health in India, the ministry had appointed Nimhans to study the mental health status in the country in 2014 to come up with stronger mental health policies.

The aim of the survey was to study the magnitude of the problem in the country when Dr P Satish Chandra was the director of Nimhans.

India was one of the first countries to develop a national mental health programme in the early 1980s, but there was no proper study to understand the spread and estimate of mental illness in the state.

Although a mental health survey was conducted almost a decade ago, there were several fallacies in that report. The report stated that the estimates at the national and state levels were not possible due to methodological limitations.

The current study, starting from data collection, was initiated in 2014. Through computer-generated random selection, primary data was collected from 12 states with a sample size of 34,802 people.

A pilot study was done in Kolar in Karnataka. It covered all important aspects of mental illness that included substance abuse, alcohol use disorder, tobacco use disorder, severe mental illness, depression, anxiety, phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, among others.

The prevalence of mental morbidity was found to be very high in the Indian urban centres with higher prevalence of schizophrenia, mood disorders and neurotic- or stress-related disorders.

Researchers have attributed the disturbing scenario to fast-paced lifestyles, stress, complexities of loving, breakdown of support systems and challenges of economic instability.

One of the biggest concerns emerging from the study is that despite three out of four persons experiencing severe mental disorders, huge treatment gaps exist.

Apart from epilepsy, the treatment gap for all mental health disorders is more than sixty per cent. In fact, the economic burden of mental disorders is so huge that affected families had to spend nearly Rs 1,000-1,500 a month mainly for treatment and to access care.

Due to the stigma attached with mental disorders, nearly 80 per cent of people suffering from mental disorders had not received any treatment despite being afflicted by the illness for over 12 months.

Poor implementation of programmes under the national mental health programme has been found to be the main culprit for this scenario.

They not only have a low priority in the public health agenda but the health information system itself does not prioritise mental health.

Not only is there a paucity of mental health specialists, the institutional care in India, too, has been found to be limited.

The researchers suggest that mental health financing needs to be streamlined. The other problems also include interrupted drug supply to treat mental illness.

Comments

Ahmed USA
 - 
Thursday, 13 Oct 2016

Sam ,u proved urself to be a student of madrasa .message board itself clearly says many have become mentally retards becoz of many reason ..one is triple talaq ..now they cannot escape from marriage after raping woman. Second ..surgical strike hit them most becoz many of them thought their relatives can do anything in Pakistan .but now their dreams are shattered .third point arrest of salafist linked Isis elements .4th point losing grip on central govt as iron man is ruling the central .mr sam .1.25 billion population yaar .have commonsense .max voters 65crores .in that Muslims didn't vote for bjp and 31% they have received .FYI how much your siddu got do u know ? .send ur kids at least to schools instead of salafist madrasas..at least they don't become like you .

Rikaz
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Oct 2016

Modi promised 15 lakhs and ache din and may be he is also one of them....

Ashwin
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Oct 2016

SAM, UAE
You are wrong, 14% of the people are those who voted for the Looters party inspite of their pro Pak, non stop looting, minority appeasing policy. This list includes Puppu, Mani, Khurshid, Diggy etc

Go Moothra
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Oct 2016

Those who changed clothes (Chaddi to trouser) .....recently ...but could not change their Minds.....

Shaad
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Oct 2016

We know 31% Indians who elected present Govt. are mentally ill, how come it reduced to 14%? May after 2 years some realised their mistakes..!

SAM
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Oct 2016

Don't understand why the NIMHANS spent so much to reveal that the number of people voted for NDA are mentally ill.

17 Cr out of 1.25 Billion voted for NDA which is 14%.

Surely Arnab Go & Swami are the on the top list who needs to be admitted to ICU.

Abdul Narayan Dsouza
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Oct 2016

Arnab Gobar swami and Naren Kothi will be in the list

Abbu Beary
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Oct 2016

Some saffron group activists all of a sudden become mentally ill if they were caught in terror case. I want to know whether they also included in this 14 per cent ?

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News Network
April 12,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 12: Swift and strict action by the District Administration has resulted in the district achieving ‘Clean’ week with no new cases of COVID-19 reported for the seventh day in a row.

Meanwhile, in a happy coincidence, the district’s only infant allegedly affected – a ten month old child – was totally cured and discharged from the hospital along with infant’s mother and grandmother who were considered to the primary contacts. They are never tested positive for the virus, it is reported. Health experts attributed this to their natural immunity.

The child is said to have contracted the infection during a family visit to Kasargod, which has turned in to a Covid-19 hot spot. The family which hails from Sajipanadu in Bantwal-taluk had been kept in isolation ever since the child had tested positive on March 25. The quarantine was extended to the entire village as a preventive measure and the District Administration undertook the responsibility to providing essential supplies.

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News Nerwork
July 4,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 4: Karnataka on Saturday reported its biggest single day spike of 1,839 new COVID-19 cases and 42 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections in the state to 21,549 and the death count to 335, the Health department said.

The day also saw 439 patients getting discharged after recovery; even as 226 patients in the state were undergoing treatment in ICU.

Out of 1,839 fresh cases reported on Saturday, a whopping 1,172 cases were from Bengaluru Urban alone; while 24 of the 42 deaths were from the capital city.

The previous biggest single day spike was recorded on July 3 with 1,694 cases.

As of July 4 evening, cumulatively 21,549 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 335 deaths and 9,244 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 11,966 active cases, 11,740 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 226 are in ICU.

Among the 42 dead are six from Bidar, four from Dakshina Kannada, three each from Kalaburagi and Dharwad and one each from Hassan and Bengaluru rural.

Of the 42, twenty-six are men, the bulletin said, adding most of them were with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), Influenza-like illness (ILI).

Out of 1,839 cases tested positive today, contacts of the majority of the cases are still under tracing.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 1,172 cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada (75), Ballari (73), Bidar (51), Dharwad (45), Raichur (41), Mysuru (38), thirty seven each from Kalaburagi and Vijayapura, thirty-five each from Mandya and Uttara Kannada.

Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 8,345 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 1,597 and Udupi 1,276.

Among discharges, Kalaburagi tops the list with 1,189 followed by Udupi (1,103) and Bengaluru Urban (965).

A total of 6,89,526 samples were tested so far, of which 17,592 were tested on Saturday alone.

So far 6,50,876 samples have been reported as negative, and of them 15,294 were reported negative today.

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News Network
May 17,2020

Bengaluru, May 17: A group of 86 college students, who went to Malaysia for internship and have been stranded due to lockdown, have appealed to Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to help them return to Karnataka.

The students in the video have also mentioned Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Kolar MP S Muniswamy and stated that States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu have made arrangements to bring back their natives from South East Asia.

The students added that they are in the Selangor State of Malaysia. They had arrived there on March 13 for a three-month-long internship as part of their college studies. They are living in apartments arranged by their college and money with them is almost spent, their college is extending them support in this regard. They are not in a position to complete the remaining two months of internship due to lock-down in Malaysia.

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