Mental Health and Urban Life: A Study of 850 Families

Abstract

Whereas there are many reports from Western societies on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders few systematic studies are available for a culture such as the Indian. Certain efforts in this direction have been made recently, and a few reports have emerged. Dube (1970), in a psychiatric survey conducted in Agra City and its suburban areas found a period prevalence of 18 per 1,000. In a study of 184 families of a rural community in India, Elnaggar et al. (1971) observed a prevalence rate of 27 per 1,000. In a study of 300 urban families, Sethi et al. (1967) found a psychiatric morbidity rate of 72 per 1,000 whereas this rate was only 39 per 1,000 in a surveyed population of 500 rural families (Sethi et al., 1972a). We also observed (Sethi et al., 1972b) that psychiatric disorders were commoner in the migrant families. The present study was undertaken to estimate the extent of mental illness in an urban society in India and to find out the relevant variables associated with various psychiatric disorders.