Domestic violence and psychological problems in married women during COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown: A community-based survey.

BACKGROUND: Following the declaration of Coronavirus disease-2019 as a pandemic, a nation-wide lockdown was announced in India. This led to increase in psychological problems, especially in women. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of psychological problems and domestic violence (DV) in married women during the pandemic and lockdown in a panchayat in Southern India and to study the association of socio-demographic and clinical variables with psychological problems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in 209 married women of 18-55 years residing in a village panchayat of northern Kerala, India. Socio-demographic variables and clinical variables, like depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, perceived stress and DV, among others, were evaluated. The participants were interviewed by trained community health workers in the post-lockdown period. RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was found to be 10.0 %, anxiety symptoms 7.2 % and perceived stress 66.0 %. Severe DV was reported by 6.2 %; but at least one form of DV was experienced by 25.8 % of the women. Significant positive correlation was observed for DV with depression and anxiety. DV was also found to be a significant predictor of depression (adjusted OR [aOR] = 4.26, P = 0.006) and anxiety (aOR=4.34, P=0.02). Being a homemaker (aOR=4.51, P = 0.03) and having past history of mental illness (aOR=5.39, P = 0.03) were also found to increase the risk for depression significantly. CONCLUSION: There is a high prevalence of psychological problems in married women during the pandemic and lockdown. DV was found to be a significant predictor of depression and anxiety in this population.

Psychiatric morbidity among prisoners.

BACKGROUND: There is a considerable lack of scientific estimate of psychiatric morbidity among Indian prisoners. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the following study is to study the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional study at District Jail, Kozhikode, Kerala. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 255 prisoners who were inmates during the period from mid-April to mid-July 2011 participated in the study. The study subjects included both male and female remand or convict prisoners. Socio-demographic data, clinical history and criminological history were collected from each individual. Psychiatric morbidity was assessed using MINI-Plus. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Done by using SPSS version 16 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, USA). RESULTS: A total of 175 subjects (68.6%) had a current mental illness. Substance use disorder was the most common diagnosis (47.1%). Antisocial personality disorder was diagnosed in 19.2%, adjustment disorder in 13.7%, mood disorder in 4.3% and psychosis in another 6.3% of prisoners. A high rate of a current psychiatric disorder was seen in male (69.7%) prisoners. A significant association was noticed for the different nature of crimes with psychiatric diagnoses and previous imprisonment. Nearly 4% of prisoners reported a moderate to high suicide risk. CONCLUSION: Mental health problems among prisoners were quite high. Mentally ill prisoners are at high risk for repeated incarceration. The increased rate of psychiatric disorders should be a concern for mental health professionals and the policy makers.