Why should psychiatry be included as examination subject in undergraduate curriculum?

Byline: A. Ghosh, Asim. Mallick The burden of psychiatric morbidity is ever increasing, cutting across regional, socio-economic and cultural barriers. The global burden of disease due to neuropsychiatric disorders was measured to be 6.8% world wide in 1990. This is projected to increase to 15% by the year 2020. Psychiatric disorders account for 5 of the 10 leading causes of disability across the world.[sup] [1] Presenting Some Aspects of Mental Health in India Population - 1081.2 million Population per sq km - 328.9 Population under 15-32.1% Population over 60-7.1% Urban population -28.7% Men per 100 women -105 Mental-health disorders account for nearly a sixth of all related disorders. Yet we have just 0.4 psychiatrists and 0.02 psychologists per 100,000 people and 0.25 mental health beds per 10,000 population. Depression, child abuse, domestic violence, adjustment disorders are on the rise; so is the rate of suicide. The suicide rate in India in the early eighties used to be 6 per 1,00,000 per year. More than a decade later, the rate is 11 per 1,00,000 per year. The highest rate of suicide is prevalent among the younger age groups - between 18 and 29 years.[sup] [2] Despite such high rates of mortality and morbidity associated with psychiatric disorders, the psychiatrist to population ratio in India is very low. Besides, not all patients with psychiatric disorders or symptoms consult the psychiatrist. The findings of the ICMR-collaborated effort in Bangalore. Hyderabad and Vellore showed that an overwhelming majority of patients with neurosis, depression, alcohol-related problems, sexual problems and psychosomatic disorders seek advice from general physicians and not from the psychiatrists (ICMR, 1982). Studies have also revealed that nearly two-thirds of all persons who commit suicide contact their family physicians in the month preceding the event. Physicians being aware about psychiatric symptomatalogy therefore, can prevent many untimely deaths. Patients from all disciplines of Medicine or Surgery may develop psychiatric complications at any point of time. Delirum, one of the commonest psychiatric diagnoses, is present in nearly 10% of emergency department patients and 40% of all terminally ill patients. Nearly 53% of all patients of chronic renal failure have been shown to have definite psychiatric disturbances. Deafness lasting more than six years is associated with a higher incidence of paranoid schizophrenia. Depression is an independent risk factor for coronary heart diseases and an indicator of poor prognosis in post myocardial infraction patients. Psychooncology is one of the expanding facets of oncology research in India and abroad. Apart from postpartum psychosis, which is a psychiatric emergency, maternal anxiety and depression are definitely known to influence developmental quotient (DQ) of infants, their weight gain and over all morbidity. …