Facebook addiction and loneliness in the post-graduate students of a university in southern India.

BACKGROUND: Facebook is a social networking site (SNS) for communication, entertainment and information exchange. Recent research has shown that excessive use of Facebook can result in addictive behavior in some individuals. AIM: To assess the patterns of Facebook use in post-graduate students of Yenepoya University and evaluate its association with loneliness. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done to evaluate 100 post-graduate students of Yenepoya University using Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) and University of California and Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness scale version 3. Descriptive statistics were applied. Pearson's bivariate correlation was done to see the relationship between severity of Facebook addiction and the experience of loneliness. RESULTS: More than one-fourth (26%) of the study participants had Facebook addiction and 33% had a possibility of Facebook addiction. There was a significant positive correlation between severity of Facebook addiction and extent of experience of loneliness ( r = .239, p = .017). CONCLUSION: With the rapid growth of popularity and user-base of Facebook, a significant portion of the individuals are susceptible to develop addictive behaviors related to Facebook use. Loneliness is a factor which influences addiction to Facebook.

Socially restrictive attitudes towards people with mental illness among the non-psychiatry medical professionals in a university teaching hospital in South India.

BACKGROUND: Unfortunately, stigmatizing attitudes towards mentally ill are common among medical students, nurses as well as doctors. This is a major obstacle in the delivery of mental health services. AIMS: To assess the socially restrictive attitudes towards mentally ill among the medical professionals and to investigate the association between such attitudes and relevant variables. METHODS: We assessed the attitudes towards people with mental illness among the medical professionals (N = 130) in a medical university using shortened version of the 40-item Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI) scale. RESULTS: We found that socially restrictive attitudes were endorsed by quite a number of faculty members and trainees. Significantly higher number of faculty members (22.5%) compared to the trainees (9.1%) endorsed unfavourable attitudes towards previously mentally ill man getting married. Similarly, significantly more number of faculty (22.5%) were averse to the idea of living next door to someone who has been mentally ill compared to the trainees (9.1%). However, significantly lesser number of faculty members (16.1%) compared to the trainees (30.3%) believed that previously mentally ill people should be excluded from taking public office. Personal acquaintance with a mentally ill individual was the only variable that was associated with significantly lesser socially restrictive attitudes among the medical professionals, irrespective of their age, gender and clinical exposure to people with mental illness. CONCLUSION: Socially restrictive attitudes towards people with mental illness are prevalent among substantial number of medical professionals in a low-income country like India. Personal acquaintance with people who have mental illness appears to be the only significant factor that reduces medical professionals' socially restrictive attitudes towards them.

Psychiatric morbidity in outpatients of gynecological oncology clinic in a tertiary care hospital.

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric morbidity in gynecological oncology patients is relatively less studied. AIMS: This cross-sectional observational study was undertaken to assess the common psychiatric disorders in women who consult the gynecological oncology outpatients' department. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We assessed a total of 101 outpatients who were recruited by convenience method of sampling. The main outcome measures were PRIME-MD PHQ diagnoses, gynecological and sociodemographic profiles. RESULTS: Psychiatric disorders as detected by PRIME -MD PHQ were diagnosed in 44% of the patients. Mood disorders were most common. Major depression was present in 25.7% of patients. Anxiety disorders were diagnosed in 16.8% of the patients. Among 44 patients with a psychiatric diagnosis only one patient was on psychiatric treatment. Major depression was much more common (34.4%) in cancer patients than in women with benign conditions (16.6%). CONCLUSION: The findings of our study reveal a high rate of psychiatric morbidity in the gynecological oncology outpatients.