ATTITUDE TOWARDS PSYCHIATRY AMONG NON-PSYCHIATRIC POSTGRADUATES IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Abstract

It is a universal phenomenon that the stigma attached to mental illness and mentally ill is a major barrier in providing mental health services. Among doctors, the stigmatisation can further lead to decline in treating mental illness and compromises in patient care. Mental illnesses go unnoticed and unattended to most of the time. AIM-To study the attitude towards mental illness and psychiatry in non-psychiatric postgraduates in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and methods- This is a “Cross - sectional study” that was carried out among non-psychiatric post graduates in a tertiary care hospital using validated questionnaire among all non-psychiatric postgraduates Results- Out of 235 non-psychiatric postgraduate's only 200 postgraduates have lled questionnaire. Out of which 88 were male and 112 were females and 168 were from the clinical branch and 32 were from the non-clinical branch. Data analyse was by using SPSS. Total scores were high on MICA -4 (56.99±9.59) which represent negative attitude towards psychiatry. The majority of postgraduates have shown little interest in psychiatry in their MBBS programme and believe that functioning in a psychiatric setup is not respectful and have been reluctant to disclose their mental illness in front of friends and colleagues. On otherhand, they accepted that mental illness could be a treated and that people with psychiatric illness must have the right to live with dignity and not to be mistreated. Conclusion- The present study shows the negative perception of non-psychiatric medical post graduates. It shows the urgent need to revise the curriculum and correct the negative attitudes of non-psychiatric post graduates towards mental illness and to instil and impart the importance of mental health among students right from undergraduate days. This would help in providing people with mental illness a holistic care for their problems.