Mental Disorders-Misconceptions and Realities

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There is a lot of misconception about mental disorders. People still resort to exorcists, ojhas, tantriks, black magic and so on. With the advancement in the field of psychiatry, timely treatment and cure is now possible. This comprehensive book on various kinds of mental disorders aims to provide correct information about the disorders so that they can be identified timely and treated correctly.

Dr. Manjeet Singh Bhatia is presently Professor and Head of Department of Psychiatry, at University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi. After acquiring a doctorate in Psychiatry, Dr. Bhatia worked in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain Hospital, G.B. Pant Hospital, Smt. Sucheta Kriplani Hospital and Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital. He has authored more that two dozen books on the subject of psychiatry.

A layman's knowledge about mental disorders is full of misconceptions. It is really sad that in the present scientific age, evil-spirit, devil, climate, astrology, luck etc. are considered to be the causes of mental disorders. Therefore in our country, traditional therapist, priest, sadhu, quacks, tantrik, bogus sex-therapists, etc. are working as psychiatrists. Common physician and specialists are incapable of recognising mental disorders and referring them to psychiatrists. Reasons being, lack of awareness, less number of psychiatrists, poverty, inability of the patient or his relatives to accept mental disorder, and so on.

In our country of over 100 crore population, there are about 4,000 psychiatrists. This number is meagre. In India, there are 42 mental hospitals in which there are about 20,000 beds. Recently, a plan has been made to provide psychiatric treatment in general hospitals so that mental patients can also be treated there. Media has failed in providing correct information about mental disorders. The result is that the fear and lack of knowledge about these disorders has not been removed among people.

The aim of this book is to provide correct information about mental disorders, so that these disorders can be identified timely and treated correctly. Also, the personal, familial, financial, social and legal complications of these disorders can be prevented in time.

If the popular misconceptions about the mental disorders in common public can be removed, the possibility of curative treatment becomes high. If this book can help even a single psychiatric patient to be able to lead a normal.

life, then it will be sucessful in fulfilling its objectives. This book has been originally written in Hindi and now translated into English with the objective to reach the common man.

Mental disorders are prevalent in people of all regions, countries and societies. A WHO report states that a staggering 450 million people, in South-Asia region alone, suffer from mental and behavioural disorders, which is among the leading cause of ill-health and disability worldwide while one in four people are affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point of time in their lives.

Mental illness or mental disorder is a broad generic label for a category of illnesses that may include affective or emotional instability, behavioural dysregulation, or cognitive dysfunction or impairment. Mental illness can be of biological or psychological origin. Mental illness may be caused by a number of factors.

For a developing country like India, with a population of more than a billion people and a broad range of basic livelihood needs, mental health is simply not seen as a top priority. Besides, the number of qualified psychiatrists is less as compared to the number of patients.

The misconceptions about mental illness are still widespread and various superstitions associated with it are prevalent. It is common for families, especially in rural areas, to disown relatives with mental illness, especially women. This social rejection also reduces the likelihood of rehabilitation. Other families react by hiding away a relative with mental illness because of shame or embarrassment and fear the stigma associated with mental illness. This too can lead to abuse of the mentally ill within the home as well as the denial of possible medical treatment.