Search

BACKGROUND: COVID 19 pandemic along with its robust containment measures to prevent the transmission of virus can have serious impact on the people with mental health disorders. Fear of getting infected and need for personal hygiene can increase the severity of symptoms in patients with OCD. METHODOLOGY: We conducted a cross sectional follow up study in Chengalpattu Medical college and Hospital, Tamilnadu. Our sample included 30 patients with OCD who were assessed for symptom severity using YBOCS before the onset of COVID 19 during January and February 2020. YBOCS was readministered during the months of June and July 2020. RESULTS: Majority of the study population (53%) had no changes in symptom severity after the onset of Covid 19 pandemic. 27% had a decrease in symptom severity while only 20% had increase in severity. Paired sample t test revealed there was no significant difference in the symptom severity. CONCLUSION: Our study results indicate that there was no significant changes in OCD symptom severity after the onset of COVID 19 pandemic. This might be due to high resilience in this population group and proper treatment and guidance regarding COVID 19.

Health or care seeking behavior has been defined as any action undertaken by individuals who perceive themselves to have a health problem or to be ill for the purpose of finding an appropriate remedy. A little understanding exists concerning socio-ecological barriers experience when seeking mental health care. we aimed at determining the factors that affect health seeking behavior of people with preexisting mental illness during COVID19 pandemic. METHODOLOGY: A Cross sectional study done for three months duration at Department of psychiatry, Chengalpattu Medical College and Hospital with sample size of 105. Ethical committee clearance was obtained.105 patients (age >18 years) consecutive patients having an International Classification of Disease 10 (ICD-10) psychiatric diagnosis, were included. Informed consent was obtained. Data regarding Socio demographic and clinical profile was obtained. RESULTS: In our study,39% of the patients belonged to 30-45 and 46-60 years of age, 6.7% of patients were between the age of above 60. 60% of study participants were male and the rest were female.69.5 % of patients had financial crisis ,70.5% of patients had decrease in the monthly income of the family by 30%or more.60% of patients had difficulty in travel to the hospital due to lack of transport facility during COVID pandemic. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION; Factors determining health-seeking behavior can help address problems and delay in early identification and optimal management of mental disorders during pandemic. Implementing community-based strategies to support resilience and psychologically vulnerable individuals during the COVID-19 crisis is fundamental for any community.

We present a case report of an antenatal mother who was diagnosed with COVID- 19. The psycho-social stressors experienced by her and the psychological intervention provided to her through telephone have been documented. The importance of post discharge telephone support or tele-psychiatry during the pandemic is also elucidated in this paper.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. The individuals with ASD have the symptoms of persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction and have restricted repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities. These symptoms are present in the early developmental periods and it causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning in their lives. As there is sparse information available on the clinical and social profile of the individuals with ASD, this study was carried to identify the demographic characteristics of individuals with ASD and factors associated with severity of ASD. Perusal of the case records of patients diagnosed with ASD from the period of 2013 – 2019 from the department of psychiatry of Chengalpattu medical college hospital was carried out. Two third of individuals with ASD also have Intellectual Disability, more than half the mothers of individuals with ASD did not breastfeed beyond 12 months, about one third of individuals with ASD have not availed any kind of services. It takes arounds 6 years of age for the parents/ individuals with ASD to seek treatment help.