There has been a steady increase in cases of anxiety-related disorders and depression in the city and state in general. Around 1,000 outpatients visit major mental health centres in the city daily and at least 15-20 per cent of the population is affected by some kind of mental illness, say mental health experts. The escalation of various types of mental disorders is evident in the increase in suicide cases (9 per lakh to 29 per lakh) in the last two decades.
Superintendent of Government Institute of Mental Health (GIMH) Dr V. Pramod Kumar, professor of psychiatry and state nodal officer for National Mental Health, said, “Awareness among people is also increasing besides advancement in medical care. Added to it is stress, anxiety and depression-related disorders. So more people are frequenting mental hospitals and seeking psychological counselling these days. Since women are genetically more prone to depression and suicide, they outnumber male patients.”
Dr G. Prasad Rao, director (schizophrenia and psychopharmacology division), Asha Hospital, said, “Multiple epidemiological studies show that one in four persons suffer from some kind of clinical psychiatric disorder in the country and there is a psychiatric morbidity in the environment. Of the different kinds of disorders, around 15 per cent are related to anxiety (phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder) and 3-5 per cent is general depression, 1-2 per cent bipolar and some are patients of alcohol or other substance abuse.”
“It’s a biological-psychological-social cycle. Education and job stress besides dowry harassment and depression due to various factors can be attributed to it. 10-15 per cent of adolescents also suffer from depression,” added Dr. Rao. At Gandhi Hospital, around 40 patients turn up for consultation per day, while at GIMH, out of 450 outpatients who visit the hospital daily, around 50 are new patients, while the rest are follow-up cases and another 100 come to collect medicines. At Asha Hospital’s rehabilitation centre and schizophrenia clinic, around 400 outpatients visit daily, of which 25 per cent are new cases. In all the hospitals, patients come from the city as well as from the districts and sometimes from neighbouring states, stated the hospital authorities.