Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:13:19.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Mental Health and Urban Life: A Study of 850 Families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

B. B. Sethi
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
R. K. Mahendru
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
P. Kumari
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical College, Lucknow

Extract

Whereas there are many reports from Western societies on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders few systematic studies are available for a culture such as the Indian. Certain efforts in this direction have been made recently, and a few reports have emerged. Dube (1970), in a psychiatric survey conducted in Agra City and its suburban areas found a period prevalence of 18 per 1,000. In a study of 184 families of a rural community in India, Elnaggar et al. (1971) observed a prevalence rate of 27 per 1,000. In a study of 300 urban families, Sethi et al. (1967) found a psychiatric morbidity rate of 72 per 1,000 whereas this rate was only 39 per 1,000 in a surveyed population of 500 rural families (Sethi et al., 1972a). We also observed (Sethi et al., 1972b) that psychiatric disorders were commoner in the migrant families. The present study was undertaken to estimate the extent of mental illness in an urban society in India and to find out the relevant variables associated with various psychiatric disorders.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1968). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—II.Google Scholar
Dube, K. C. (1970). ‘A study of prevalence and biosocial variables in mental illness in a rural and an urban community in Uttar Pradesh.’ Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 46, 327.Google Scholar
Elnaggar, M. N., Maitre, P., and Rao, M. N. (1971). ‘Mental health in an Indian rural community.’ British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 499.Google Scholar
Leighton, D. C., Harding, J. S., Macklin, D. B., Hughes, C. C., and Leighton, A. H. (1963). ‘Psychiatric findings of the Sterling County Study.’ American Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 1021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sethi, B. B., Gupta, S. C., and Kumar, R. (1967). ‘300 urban familes—A psychiatric study.’ Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 9, 280.Google Scholar
Sethi, B. B., Gupta, S. C., Kumar, R. and Kumari, P. (1972a). ‘A psychiatric survey of 500 rural families.’ Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 14, 183.Google Scholar
Sethi, B. B., Gupta, S. C., Mahendru, R. K., and Kumari, P. (1972b). ‘Migration and mental health.’ Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 14, 115.Google Scholar
Srole, L., Lanoner, T. S., Michael, S. T., Opler, M. K., and Rennie, T. A. C. (1962). ‘Mental health in metropolis: The Midtown Manhattan study’, in Rennie Series in Social Psychiatry (ed. Thomas, A. C.). New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.