Mental Health

Competency-based psychiatric education for Indian medical undergraduates Vijayalakshmi Pernenkil Archives of Mental Health 2019 20(1):1-2

Beyond infatuation and love: Review of adolescent mental health manuals in India Manjula Basavaraju, Janardhana Navaneetham Archives of Mental Health 2019 20(1):3-8 Romantic relationship is one among the defining feature and developmental task of adolescence, often considered to have significant influence on the course of other developmental tasks, overall health and wellbeing. Thus the present paper made an attempt to review different mental health promotion manuals developed for adolescence in India with the aim to understand whether those manuals address the emerging issues of adolescence in romantic relationship. Seven manuals were selected for this purpose and reviewed based on its content, methodology, target population and how issues pertaining to romantic relationship has been addressed. It was observed that all the manuals covered different aspects related to developmental needs and concerns of adolescents in general; especially the developmental significance of romantic relationship with its socio-cultural background has received little attention. Therefore this article implied for developing comprehensive manuals on emerging issues of adolescents in romantic relationship as a great need of the time.

Attitude toward mental illness among medical students and nonpsychiatric doctors M Vijay Kumar, Raghuram Macharapu, Pramod Kumar Reddy, Sateesh Babu Archives of Mental Health 2019 20(1):9-13 Objective: To determine the attitude toward mental illness among medical students and nonpsychiatric doctors of Mamata Medical College. Materials and Methods: The study was cross-sectional, conducted in Mamata Medical College, Khammam, from September 2016 to March 2017. Our study sample contains 150 medical students doing internship and 100 nonpsychiatric doctors working in Mamata Medical College, Khammam, who are willing to participate in the study. Results: In the present study, we observed negative attitude toward mental illness among both medical students and nonpsychiatric doctors. When compared attitude toward mental illness among medical students and nonpsychiatric doctors, we found that there was no statistically significant difference. Compared to nonpsychiatric doctors, the medical students had stigma that people with severe mental illness are dangerous and it is more discomfortable talking to a person with a mental illness. Compared to medical students, the nonpsychiatric doctors had stigma that being a psychiatrist is not like being a real doctor and it is not important that any doctor supporting a person with mental illness also assesses their physical health. Nonpsychiatric doctors also had stigma that they do not want to work with a colleague if they had a mental illness. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the need for educational programs aimed at medical and nonpsychiatric doctors for providing basic information and thus demystifying mental illness.

Prevalence of nicotine dependence and its impact on quality of life and severity of symptoms in schizophrenic patients S Prasanna Latha, M Vijay Kumar, Gautham Tialam, Pramod Kumar Reddy Mallepalli Archives of Mental Health 2019 20(1):14-20 Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study is (1) To assess the prevalence of nicotine dependence and its impact on quality of life and severity of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. (2) To determine the association between ND and clinical symptomatology of schizophrenia. (3) To explore the impact of ND on the quality of life (QOL) of patients with schizophrenia. Materials and Methods: The current study is a cross-sectional study done among 100-male schizophrenic patients conducted in the Department of Psychiatry, Mamata General Hospital, Khammam, Telangana, from July 2017 to December 2017. The tools used are the Fagerstrom test for ND (FTND) was administered to assess ND. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for assessing the clinical symptomatology, and the abbreviated World Health Organization QOL (WHOQOL-BREF) for assessing their QOL. Results: The prevalence of smoking in schizophrenics was 68.75%. Prevalence of ND is higher in illiterates, unemployment, nuclear family, low-socioeconomic status, and hailing from the rural background when compared to that of the nicotine nondependence. Nicotine-dependent were found to be having higher mean scores on the positive subscale and the General Psychopathology Subscale and lower mean scores on negative domain. Within the ND group, correlation testing between the FTND scores and PANSS revealed a negative co-relationship between ND and negative symptoms, whereas the correlation testing between the FTND scores and WHOQOL-BREF scores revealed a negative relationship between ND and psychological, social, and environment domains of QOL. There was a negative correlation between (a) Negative symptoms and all the domain of QOL. (b) General psychopathology and social relationships, environmental among ND. Summary and Conclusion: Nicotine-dependent patients suffer from the higher levels of symptoms and enjoy a worse QOL compared to that of the nondependent patients with schizophrenia. Bearing in mind the innumerable harms of ND, the evaluation and management of ND must become an integral aspect of the evaluation and management of patients with schizophrenia.

A study to assess the relationship among sleep, physical health, psychological health, and quality of life among undergraduate students Vallabhaneni Pujitha, Molangur Umashankar, Bipeta Rajshekhar, Reshaboyina Lakshman Rao Archives of Mental Health 2019 20(1):21-25 Context: The sleep is an important biological function, and the students are especially vulnerable to sleep-related problems which may have an impact on their health and well-being. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the quality of sleep (QoS) and to study the relationship among QoS, physical health, psychological health, and quality of life (QoL) in undergraduate (UG) students. Settings and Design: In a cross-sectional study, 625 UG students filled out a semi-structured questionnaire. Subjects and Methods: The participants were administered the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, WHO-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and Rotterdam Symptom Checklist. Statistical Analysis Used: The data were compared using percentages and proportions. Results: A higher number of participants were with poor QoS in the categories of poor physical health (P = 0.003) and poor QoL (P = 0.001). The psychological distress in the group with poor QoS was found to be greater than the psychological distress in the group with good QoS (P = 0.001). Conclusions: In UG students, QoS was found to be positively associated with physical health, psychological health, and QoL. There is a need for longitudinal studies in this field to establish the causality.

Methylphenidate induced tongue movements Bhogaraju Anand Archives of Mental Health 2019 20(1):26-27 In this paper, we report the case of 7-year-old female, diagnosed wih mild intellectual disability and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder who developed tongue rolling movements following the use of methylphenidate treatment. The onset of tongue movements started 2½ h after starting methylphenidate and subsided in 3–4 h. Recurrence was noticed only when she was exposed to the medication. This case report highlights the importance of noticing orofacial dyskinesia with methylphenidate use and its discontinuation leading to subsidence of these movements.

A Crossword Puzzle Compiled by Dr. Rama Reddy Karri Archives of Mental Health 2019 20(1):28-29

Ensuring better management of physical health conditions among people with severe mental disorders: World Health Organization Saurabh RamBihariLal Shrivastava, Prateek Saurabh Shrivastava Archives of Mental Health 2019 20(1):30-31

Improper presentation of statistical results misleads into interpretations of study conclusions: An incidence of outcome reporting bias Tarun Verma Archives of Mental Health 2019 20(1):32-33

Alexandros Sfakianakis
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