LITERATURE REVIEW

1. INDIA NEEDS TO TALK ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS BY- Afshan Yasmeen

At least 13.7 per cent of India’s general population has various mental disorders; 10.6
per cent of them require immediate interventions. While nearly 10 per cent of the
population has common mental disorders, 1.9 per cent of the population suffers from
severe mental disorders. These are some of the findings of a National Mental Health
Survey held recently and conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and
Neurosciences (NIMHANS).

That is not all. The prevalence of mental morbidity is found to be very high in urban
centres, where there is a higher prevalence of schizophrenia, mood disorders and
neurotic or stress-related disorders. This disturbing scenario could be due to fast-
paced lifestyles, experiencing stress, complexities of living, a breakdown of support
systems and challenges of economic instability.

The study — which covered all important aspects of mental illness including
substance abuse, alcohol use disorder, tobacco use disorder, severe mental illness,
depression, anxiety, phobia and post-traumatic stress disorder among others — had a
sample size of 34,802 individuals. Primary data collection was done through
computer-generated random selection by a team of researchers, and local teams of co-
investigators and field workers in the 12 States

2. PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH: AN EVOLVING IMPERATIVE by- Nimesh. Desai

The development of community mental health from clinical psychiatry has often been
described as a process independent of the larger process of the development of the
field of community health, and as if the movement towards the community was
specific to psychiatry or mental health. The contributing factors and determinants of
this movement have generally been identified as (i) institutional care being expensive
and/or harmful in terms of 'institutionalization' syndrome, (ii) inadequacy of human
resource or qualified professionals, (iii) and that the general health workers and
paraprofessionals can be trained to deliver these services in their own settings for
majority of patients. The fact that the movement occurred significantly as a part of the
larger movement of community medicine or community health is also often
overlooked. The Bhore Committee Report of 1946, which laid the foundation for the
community health movement in India, not only combined the 'top down' and the
'bottom up' approaches but also included substantive emphasis on issues of mental
health, albeit within the limitations of that period, much before some of the noted
western movements of community mental health
3. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN INDIA. By- Rajkumar. S 18 J. Soc. & Soc.
Welfare 41 (1991)

Mental health care is largely provided by the government. It is grossly inadequate

considering that there are 20 million people needing care and facilities have only
25,000 beds. Such a lack of public facilities has encouraged the growth of a large
number of private nursing homes. As the government sector has severe financial
constraints on account of other health priorities, the voluntary sector has initiated a
few mental health care programs.

Psychiatric care is not covered by insurance or social security. However, most

government centres provide care free of cost not only for inpatients and outpatients,
but also for specialised services. Notable among these are programs for mental
retardation, drug addiction, suicide prevention and psychogeriatric care. The three
major providers of mental health care are institutions, aftercare services, and general
hospital and community services.