About 10 per cent of Delhi’s population suffer from mental illnesses: Study

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Pritha Chatterjee: New Delhi, Oct 11 2012, 01:13 IST

The Capital is seeing a rise in the number of people suffering from mental health problems, particularly suicidal tendencies, even among the economically weaker sections, doctors said.

On World Mental Health Day, they said the city needed more psychiatrists to address the issue.

Dr Nimesh Desai, Director of Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), said: “In Delhi, 8-10 per cent of the population suffers from some form of diagnosed mental illness. This includes depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders, alcoholism and phobias, among others.”

He said 50 per cent of patients suffer from depression. “Of the patients diagnosed with depression in Delhi, around 10-15 per cent are likely to commit suicide at some point, while 40-50 per cent attempt suicide,” Desai said.

A community-based study, conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in the city, to assess suicidal behaviour from 2004-2010, found a life-long prevalence of possible suicidal tendencies in 11.1 per cent of the population.

“What’s more surprising is that more than one third of them have no previous history of psychiatric disorders. Almost 40 per cent of suicidal thoughts are not associated with any psychiatric disorders — unlike the belief common among mental health practitioners and the public,” Desai said.

This, experts said, indicates the role of other risk factors like “stress of daily living, including issues related to urbanisation and other social changes.”

The study was spread over 11 colonies of different socio-economic strata. Data was collected from 100 households in each

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Reader's Comments (3)| Post a Comment

Ray

Debabrata | 11-Oct-2012Reply | Forward

Growing demands of life making life more complex by increasing the satisfaction reaching level . Unknowingly , we provoke children to compete in the rat race of Getting Success in life. Young generation also are paying less attentions to the members of family , parents , spouses , children , relatives , etc. And what SUCCESS mean to us MORE STATUS MORE RESPECT MORE MONEY , Etc . But the pleasure of living a simple life in the Grace of God sharing the gifts of life with others are forgotten today . Films , Ads , Political Powers showing , Bureaucrats favor , etc all these demoralizing satisfaction level among us. But the most responsible is the parents who from childhood do not let the children live normal life imparting only thinking of self which leads to unsatisfied life in future with ever growing demands ...

No surprise

Gk | 11-Oct-2012Reply | Forward

With the kind of governance this country is receiving, this news is no surprise. In fact, all the parliamentarians and powers that be form this 10%. They need to be sent to an asylum, preferably in one of the sinking islands in Andamans.

Population suffer from mental illnesses: Study

Saumen Sengupta | 11-Oct-2012Reply | Forward

In a country where 84000 are millionaires with the rest barely making out, average Delhiite must be a mental case already to chase after this national dream. Simple joy of living from moment to moment without any regret or hankering after some dreams have but disappeared from our vocabulary.