Psychiatry - A Social Stigma!

The first 200 words of this essay...

Psychiatry - A Social Stigma!

By Dr. Harsha Gopisetty

News paper headlines stating 'Death of 25 mentally-ill patients, charred beyond recognition, in a devastating fire which engulfed their thatched hostel, pathetically chained to their cots in Ervadi Mental Hospital in Tamil Nadu' and on the other extreme 'States like Haryana do not have a mental hospital' is very revealing of the neglected state of approach to the mentally ill in India. One wonders! Why it is so? When all other sciences have made such great advances in India, Psychiatry has made virtually no headway, and is in a very nascent state.

The first Department of Psychiatry with outpatient facility in a general hospital in India was opened on 1st May 1933, at the then Carmichael Medical College, now known as R. G. Kar Medical College, in Kolkata.

The traditional approach to the care of the mentally ill during the last 200 years was custodial, rather than therapeutic. This approach to "Psychiatric Care Delivery System" was introduced in India from Britain. Mental hospitals were established in isolated areas, often on the outskirts with the object of segregating the patient as troublesome and dangerous to their neighbors. The