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Mental illness in Goa, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Vikram Patel
Vikram Patel*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London and Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour, Goa, India
*
Correspondence: Section of Epidemiology and General Practice, Institute of Psychiatry, DeCrespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
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While waiting for a delayed departure at Goa airport recently, I engaged in conversation with a fellow frustrated passenger who happened to be an American tourist. Upon discovering that I had spent eight months in Goa initiating a field study on common mental disorders in primary care clinics, she expressed amazement exclaiming “but surely there can't be mental problems in this place… it's so beautiful and everyone seems so happy!”. After a brief moment wondering whether my companion was joking, I realised that my work in Goa could in itself seem a bit of a joke to colleagues and friends who associated Goa with being a holiday destination. Not only is the view that living in an apparent paradise is somehow conducive to better mental health a smokescreen, I had come to realise that mental illness was a considerable problem in this coastal state. Perhaps this essay could be an opportunity to explain why.

Type
Briefing
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 21 , Issue 5 , May 1997 , pp. 299 - 301
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Population Research Centre, Jss Institute of Economic Research and International Institute for Population Sciences (1995) National Family Health Survey (MCH and Family Planning), Goa 1992–3. Bombay: PRC. Dharwad & IIPS.Google Scholar
Shiva, M. (1992) Women & Health. In State of India's Health (ed. Mukhopadhyay, A.), pp. 265–302. New Delhi: Voluntary Health Association of India.Google Scholar
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