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Biomedical subjects

D N Nandi

Publications and source records attributed to D N Nandi.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Psychiatric morbidity of a rural Indian community. Changes over a 20-year interval.

BACKGROUND: Cross-sectional studies give no indication of the changes that may occur in the mental health status of a community in course of times. Studies should be designed to assess these changes. AIMS: To assess the changes, if any, in the prevalence of mental disorders in a rural community after an interval of 20 years in the context of its changing socio-economic conditions. METHOD: A door-to-door survey of the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in two villages was conducted by a team of psychiatrists. The survey was repeated after 20 years by the same team and by the same method. Changes in the mental health status of the community were compared. RESULTS: Total morbidity per 1000 fell from 116.8 to 105.2. Morbidity in men fell from 86.9 to 73.5 per 1000 and in women from 146.8 to 138.3 per 1000. Rates of anxiety, hysteria and phobia had fallen dramatically and those of depression and mania had risen significantly. CONCLUSION: The level of psychiatric morbidity showed no statistically significant change. The morbidity pattern (relative proportion of type of morbidity), however, showed some interesting changes. Similar studies should be done on a larger sample.

Adolescent↗

Is hysteria on the wane? A community survey in West Bengal, India.

A field survey was conducted in two villages--Gambhirgachi and Paharpur--in 1972. The survey was repeated after 10 years in the former village and after 15 years in the latter one. The second survey showed very little change in the rate of total mental morbidity. The rate of prevalence of hysteria declined significantly in both villages. In Gambhirgachi the rate of hysteria dropped from 16.9 to 4.6 per 1000 in 10 years, and in Paharpur it dropped from 32.3 to 2.05 per 1000 in 15 years.

Adolescent↗

Epidemic koro in West Bengal, India.

The present study draws attention to the recent sudden outbreak of Koro in epidemic form in the rural areas of West Bengal, India. The details of three such cases are reported.

Adolescent↗

Socio-economic status and mental morbidity in certain tribes and castes in India--a cross-cultural study.

The authors made a field-survey of mental morbidity in all the tribal and caste groups residing in a cluster of villages in West Bengal, India, and found that, in each group, higher socio-economic classes had higher rates of mental morbidity. Different groups having a similar cultural pattern showed no significant difference in their rates of morbidity. Groups having different cultural patterns differed significantly in their rates of morbidity. In the tribal groups some neurotic disorders were absent.

Cross-Cultural Comparison↗

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.

Adolescent↗

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.

Depression↗