Archives of Mental Health

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Lesions of the gangliocapsular nuclei are associated with multiple neuropsychiatric functions, and their disease presents with a variety of presentations. Purely psychiatric presentations are known, and among them, mood disorders and psychosis may be likely. Here, we describe a case series with three independent patients presenting with psychiatric symptoms attributable to basal ganglia lesions, but with three different presentations – mania, depression, and nonaffective psychosis. It is important to rule out basal ganglia lesions in all cases of psychiatric presentations where an organic etiology is suspected.

Introduction: Shift work is associated with impaired sleep patterns, poor quality of life (QOL), and several medical conditions. Shift work disrupts the sleep-wake cycle and biological rhythms. Poor sleep quality and disruption of the normal circadian cycle are likely to cause cardiovascular disorders, obesity, diabetes mellitus, anxiety, depression, lethargy, and fatigue. It is also associated with diminished vigilance and work performance. Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of shift work on quality of sleep and QOL in industrial workers. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional, comparative study conducted on 147 rotating shift work employees and 132 regular nonshift day workers in various industries. Semi-structured pro forma was used for sociodemographic data. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Epworth Sleepiness Scale were used to assess the quality of sleep. The WHO-5 Well-Being Index and WHOQOL-BREF were used to assess the QOL. Appropriate statistical methods were used to analyze the data. Results: Compared with nonshift day workers, those work for variable shifts exhibited higher rates of heavy smoking and increased caffeine consumption. Variable shift workers reported persistent sleep disturbance, poor sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness compared to fixed day shift workers (P < 0.05). The overall QOL score and well-being index were also significantly (P < 0.05) low in shift workers compared to nonshift day workers. Conclusion: Shift work has a significant negative impact on quality of sleep and QOL and results in poor functioning and disturbances in mental and physical health of the individual. Hence, attention must be paid to the strategies that can improve the quality of sleep and QOL.

Context: Psoriasis is one of the most common dermatological illnesses with an often-devastating course. Patients of psoriasis have impairment of physical, psychological, vocational, social functioning which led to psychiatric morbidities such as anxiety disorders and depressive disorder. Aims: The objective is to evaluate the presence and severity of depression in patients of psoriasis and to correlate the severity of psoriasis with severity of depression. Settings and Design: Hospital-based cross-sectional study. Subjects and Methods: Fifty patients of psoriasis were enrolled for the study after their informed consent with purposive sampling method from the Department of Dermatology, in a tertiary care hospital in northeastern part of India. The severity of psoriasis was assessed using Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scale. Same patients were evaluated using international classification of diseases 10 research criteria and Hamilton rating scale of depression to diagnose and grade the degree of depression. Statistical Analysis Used: Linear regression method was used to compare the severity of depression with the severity of psoriasis. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 20.0. Results: Incidence of depression was found to be 44% in psoriasis patients. Among them, 50% had mild depression, and 36.1% had severe to very severe depression. The severity of depression was directly proportionate to the severity of psoriasis. Conclusions: These findings indicate the need of early recognition of depression among these patients and their early intervention, which will improve the primary disease process.

Background: Several studies have found that mental illnesses are very commonly seen in the prison population when compared to the normal population and they are a major public health concern. In most of the cases, it is very difficult to differentiate between abnormal personality and criminal behavior and their influence on psychopathology. In the literature, there were many studies done on the entire prison population. However, there were very few studies that compared the characteristics and psychopathology of both violent and nonviolent offenders which are distinct in many ways. Hence, the current study focussed on how the violent differ from the non-violent offenders. Aim: This study aims to study the various sociodemographic factors, crime characteristics, and psychiatric morbidity in violent offenders and nonviolent offenders. Study Design: It is a cross-sectional comparative study conducted at central prison Cherlapalli, Hyderabad. Materials and Methods: Study sample includes 61 violent offenders involved in serious crimes like murder (IPC SEC 302), attempt to murder (IPC SEC 307) and 34 nonviolent offenders (involved in other crimes like theft, check bounce, etc.) The characteristics are analyzed using semi-structured intake pro forma, and psychopathology is analyzed using International Classification of Diseases 10 criteria and MINI scale. Results and Conclusions: In our study, significant differences between the two groups were found in domicile, employment status, marital status, and duration of stay in prison. History of psychiatric illness before and after the crime is most commonly seen in violent offenders when compared to nonviolent offenders. Significant previous incarcerations were high in nonviolent offenders when compared to nonviolent offenders. In both the groups, more than half of the individuals had either alcohol abuse or dependence pattern, and high rates of substance intoxication at the time of the commission of the crime were found in violent offenders. Less than one-fourth of both groups were found to have psychiatric illness apart from alcohol. Hence, more awareness programs and campaigns regarding the influence of alcohol on the crimes can be conducted with the help of police, government, private organizations, and media, especially directed at vulnerable and at-risk population for crime, would indirectly decrease crime rate by decreasing alcohol consumption. There are a lot of studies in Indian literature regarding the psychopathology in the whole of the prison population and also in violent offenders; but, there are very few studies comparing both violent and nonviolent offenders which are a distinct population.

British colonialism brought a western impact in Indian psychiatry. Starting from the early colonial times when mental asylums were set up in major cities of India to cater the British and Indian soldiers. Then in late colonial period there was a discernible growth in the number of mental asylums away from major cities to cater the local population. Also during this period First Lunacy Act was enacted by the British Parliament which brought many changes in the administration and healthcare system of mental asylums in a more humanistic approach. In pre independence period there was a major change in treatment standard of mental hospitals with introduction of different modes of therapy, medication, rehabilitation technique. Also efforts to train medical and nursing personnel in Psychiatry were started during this period. General hospital psychiatry care was introduced during this period. Thus current practice and training in Psychiatry in India functions courtesy of the moulds constructed during the colonial times.

Family caregivers have been an integral part of healthcare in India for several decades. They have been complementing the state resources, and thus, estimating the real healthcare cost becomes difficult. This paper highlights the needs of the family caregivers in an emerging change in the family structure in India – from joint families to extended families and to nuclear families. It makes a case for recognizing the efforts of the caregivers in providing healthcare, rather than just viewing them as plentiful of resources available. Their experiences and needs deserve due recognition and understanding to develop support networks and care program for the caregivers. We have made attempt in this regard to summarize the current status of research on this topic in the Indian and global context.

Online since 8^th March 2018