Psychiatric Research

One of the important ways to enhance knowledge and understanding about psychiatric illness and their management is through research. Psychiatric research has kept is due important position in psychiatric practice since last many decades. Without research it might be impossible to appropriately manage any given psychiatric case with proper rationale. The significance of research in psychiatry is further emphasised due to the nature of psychiatric illness itself with the inherent difficulty in assessment of behaviour and its pathologies. Similarly, different modalities of treatment in psychiatric disorders and the assessment of these modalities is a difficult proposition. The research has predominantly remained disease oriented rather than health oriented. Many countries in Europe and America have made quite an advance in research in psychiatry. Most of the available literature pertains to the findings based on these researches in the West. Our textbooks only quote the knowledge based on these researches. In India, on the other hand, research in psychiatry did not get its due importance. We have been deeply involved about services as well as teaching at the cost of which research has remained neglected. It needs to be pointed out that though on one hand some of the Indian researches have been outstanding, a majority of others have been superficial and simplistic. These have confined to simple data analysis and report based on plain head counting. Though the importance of such research is not being undermined but in keeping with the current advances it is necessary to do more of indepth researches. In addition researches in psychiatry have often had limitations in methodology, sampling techniques and use of standardised instruments. Also invariably instruments devised and standardised in the developed countries are used in the Indian studies. There is nothing basically wrong-with such an approach but it would be worthwhile to devise and standardise our own instruments for our patients and our researches. It is important to conduct intensive prospective studies on phenomenology of psychiatric disorders in India. Some such studies have already appeared in national as well as international journals but there is a need to study all psychiatric disorders from the Indian point of view. Research in biological psychiatry is also very important. There are very few centres in the country where facilities to conduct research on biological aspects are available. Research on various aspects of psychiatric morbidity-biological and psychosocial needs to be encouraged immensely. Hopefully, more scientists, young as …