One in 20 Indian adults depressed, 1 per cent suicidal: Study

While women are more prone to suffer from depression, neurotic, phobic anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders, increasing number of men are detected with severe mental disorders like schizophrenia, other non-affective psychoses and bipolar affective disorders in India.

The new comprehensive analysis conducted by Bengaluru-based National Institute of Mental health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), released by the government on Monday, has revealed that nearly 15% of Indian adults (those above 18 years) are in need of active interventions for one or more mental health issues.

The study found that nearly 1 in 40 and 1 in 20 suffer from past and current depression, respectively.

Significantly, it is found that “mood disorder” is widely prevalent in women aged between 40-49 years while equally high rates of depression were reported among the elderly (3.5%). Even as mental disorders affect more adults in urban areas, the overall prevalence of mental morbidity was higher among males (13.9%) than females (7.5%).

The study looked at 34,802 adults and 1,191 adolescents from 12 states. Experts established that schizophrenia and other psychoses (0.64%), mood disorders (5.6%) and neurotic or stress-related disorders (6.93%) were nearly 2-3 times more among urban population.

“The burden is expected to rise and, hence, there is a need for an urban specific mental health programme,” said a senior official in the health ministry.

As per the report, common mental disorders (CMDs), including depression, anxiety disorders and substance use disorders are a huge burden affecting nearly 10.0% of the population.

Significantly, substance use disorders (alcohol, tobacco and other drugs) was found prevalent in 22.4 % of the population above 18 years in all the 12 surveyed states. The prevalence of alcohol use disorders in males was 9% as against 0.5% in females.

Nearly 1% of the population reported high suicidal risk, with the prevalence more in the 40-49 age group (1.19%).