Emerging Aspects of Psychiatry in India

The development of organised mental health care is of very recent origin, though mental health has been an important part of both Indian philosophy as well as Indian system of medicine (Wig, 1989). At the time of independence there were less than a dozen mental health professionals and only 10,000 psychiatric beds. In the last 50 years the developments, (i) to train mental health manpower, (ii) to increase services in institutions, (iii) outpatients and (iv) in the community have been very impressive. During this period, the National Mental Health Programme has been formulated in 1982. The Indian Lunacy Act, 1912 has been replaced by Mental Health Act in 1987. In 1995, the Persons with Disabilities Act (PDA) has been passed. This most recent act include mental illness as one of the disabilities. At the community level there is greater awareness and acceptance of mentally ill persons and mental health care.