Indians are a depressed lot: WHO Report

[Abu Zolfiqar]

it's all because of you Sang Parivaris

 

[Gentle Typhoon]

Circa 2000 there was wave of suicides in my region, including my relatives. People were saying some desease spread.

Anyways what do you expect? You work hard, pay taxes, come home, switch ON TV and learn about 1000s of crores of corruption scandals, also Indian media is very negative.

Situation in Pakistan seems worse -

80pc people suffer from mental illness in Waziristan

PESHAWAR: The drone attacks by US spy planes and acts of terrorism have not only affected the mental health of tribesmen but also the people of settled areas.

“About 80 per cent residents of South and North Waziristan agencies have been affected mentally while 60 per cent people of Peshawar are nearing to become psychological patients if these problems are not addressed immediately,” according to a survey conducted by an NGO, Horizon.

Conducted under the supervision of noted psychologist Dr Khalid Mufti, the survey said that seven to nine per cent children became victims of phobia owing to consistent telecast of terrorism related scenes by TV channels.

The skyrocketing price hike, energy crisis, lawlessness and untidiness had also made many people mentally retarded, it added.

It would be very difficult to save future of youth if the existing situation remained unchanged, said Dr Mufti. He urged TV channels to avoid telecasting footage of terrorism related incidents to improve mental health of people and children exposed to phobia and other disorders.

Underling the need for creating jobs opportunities and recreational activities to improve lives of people in restive areas, Dr Mufti said that owing to economic disparity, torture and domestic disputes, people of the affected areas were inclining to use of narcotics.

During the last one decade, he said, youths were confronted with mental and economic pressure while children and women were exposed to depression owing to uncertain situation.

“These problems need to be addressed for survival of our young generation and improving lifestyle of people,” he added.

Dr Mufti appealed to people to work for establishment of a peaceful society to get rid of mental worries, problems and use of drugs. “For this purpose every segment of the society has to play a positive and constructive role,” he said.

 

[aakash_2410]

Yes I AM depressed to think about
will the 300 million poor people in my country get the food today? [Even though I'm optimistic since India pulls 22 million people out of poverty every year. Second fastest in the world after China.]
will the corruption in my country end? [Even though I'm optimistic since Anna Hazare has showed it can be done and people are awakening.]
will the economy sustain the high growth? [Even though I'm optimistic since many world organisations has said it will unless subject to some global disaster.]


But I'm not worried about/depressed :
that my house or farm will get taken away from me, because the government wants to make a brand new 'infrastructure'.
to go out on the road and shout 'f*ck the government' or carry out a peaceful protest because I know I live in free country and nothing will happen to me.
that when will I get to decide the people who'd govern MY country or when will I be able to vote?
how many kids am I going to have? I can have as many kids as I want no one will care.

 

[Tshering22]

With so much corruption and difficulties of life, I am not surprised at this find.

it's all because of you Sang Parivaris

Of course.. and Akhand Bharat is just our absolute target. It is happening anyways. Beware... don't wish just for the heck of it.. who knows it might come true.

 

[lsmr]

funny but why Indians are very optimistic in my mind. They are always full of ideals.thanks google translate^_^

 

[lsmr]

Really fun outside (*^__^*)

 

[Pakchina]

Apart from being the No 1 world's weapons importer now Indians have achieved success in a new field. Congrats to all our Indian brothers for being a top depressed nation. Keep it up. Despite all the Bollywood movies which permit the Indians to dream, they are still the most depressed. So shining and mighty India are just empty slogans. Hope Indians do not buy the fake anti-depressive medicines manufactured by their country. Anyway we must agree that all of us could, once a day, fall into depression caused by stress, loneliness etc.

 

[DkBose]

Apart from being the No 1 world's weapons importer now Indians have achieved success in a new field. Congrats to all our Indian brothers for being a top depressed nation. Keep it up. Despite all the Bollywood movies which permit the Indians to dream, they are still the most depressed. So shining and mighty India are just empty slogans. Hope Indians do not buy the fake anti-depressive medicines manufactured by their country. Anyway we must agree that all of us could, once a day, fall into depression caused by stress, loneliness etc.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Hope Indians do not buy the fake anti-depressive medicines manufactured by their country. .

 

[RoYaL~GuJJaR]

Got something to cheer about

 

[gaurish]

What were the sampling techiniques used while conducting these reasearches.... i guess WHO will only go to poor people to find out about their attitude towards life

 

[ranja]

'Indians most depressed': Govt rubbishes WHO study
The Union health ministry on Thursday rejected media reports which cited a World Health Organisation-sponsored study to claim that Indians were the most depressed in the world.
After conducting a thorough analysis of the report titled "Cross-national Epidemiology of DSM-IV Major Depressive Episode (MDE)", published in BMC Medicine Journal, top health ministry officials on Thursday said the media reports, which suggested that Indians as the most depressed globally, "were gross misprepresentation of the data in the WHO study."
In an elaborate clarification issued on Thursday, the ministry said the lifetime prevalence of depression among Indians, that too among the respondents from Pondicherry (now Puducherry) - the only area covered by the WHO report, was just 9 per cent and not 36 per cent, as claimed by the news reports.
"The reports in the media are based on complete misrepresentation of the facts and picked up after wrongly reading the columns in the survey data," said a ministry release issued in New Delhi.
"The figure of 12 month prevalence (4.5 per cent) and lifetime prevalence (9 per cent) of MDE in India [ Images ] is not representative of the country as this figure is based upon the study data of Puducherry which has different socio-demographic indicators compared to rest of the India. Hence, the findings of the study cannot be generalised to the whole country," the release stated.

'Indians most depressed': Govt rubbishes WHO study - Rediff.com India News

 

[RazPaK]

Zamana is changing. Indians nowadays more modern than their pakistani-counter-parts, are progressing towards higher income and success. Pakistanis I must say are on the same path as well though. I might strike a chord with muslims, although I know that most of the Indian members here are probably hindu. We as a people have decided on our happiness and well being relying on material goods and financial resources. I agree with tiki that there is joy in living and breathing in country sides and appreciating nature versus competing in the corporate world. In urdu we say "pasay toh ****** o ke pas be hain"; which means even pimps have money. What we as a people are lacking is our spiritual nature, which in the past has been our strong point, but recently is being supressed by the western philosophy imposed upon us. How many cars and how many homes is it going to take for us to realize that happiness is measured within the smile that our baby-girl gives us 4 months after her birth. Or the extravagent meal cooked by our wives, after being neglected due to work for months on end.

Call me crazy, but just my two cents.

 

[DkBose]

how to count the depression of country??

 

[majesticpankaj]

Let me burst the bubble

Depression study: AIIMS sent figures from just 1 centre

The study based on the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Survey Initiative, which says that India has the highest rate of major depression in the world, has been rubbished by Union Health Ministry officials, who said that the figures are not representative of the pan India scenario.

The study, ‘Cross-national epidemiology of DSM-IV major depressive episode’, based on interviews of nearly 90,000 subjects across 18 countries with different income levels, was published in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Medicine by Biomed Central.

According to the study, the average lifetime rates of depression were found to be 14.6 per cent in 10 high income countries, and 11.1 per cent in eight low- to middle-income countries. Lifetime incidents of what was identified as Major Depressive Episodes (MDE), were highest among Indians — at 35.9 per cent.

ndian officials on Wednesday said the figure did not represent the entire country. A total of 11 centres across India participated in WHO’s Mental Health Survey conducted from 2000-05, under the aegis of the Union Health Ministry. But ministry authorities said AIIMS, which was entrusted with the task of tabulating the data, did not forward the data of all the centres to the Harvard Medical School, nodal centre of the survey.

Confirming this, Dr Rajesh Sagar, associate professor of psychiatry at AIIMS and incharge of the WHO’s survey in India, said, “Data was only sent from JIPMER, Puducherry. So it is incorrect to say that this particular study represented the entire country.” He declined to give reasons why data from other centres, including AIIMS, NIMHANS in Bangalore, PGI in Chandigarh and the Central Institute of Psychiatry in Ranchi, were not considered fit for the study.

The sample size of the Indian subjects in both phases of the study was nearly half the average sample size among the 18 countries. While the average sample size in phase one of the study was 4946.50, a total of 2,992 Indian subjects were reported for it. In phase two, 1,373 subjects were studied, compared to an average of 2586.77.

Dean of Research at AIIMS Dr A B Dey said officially, AIIMS was not responsible for the Indian figures reported since the study was not authored by any faculty at the institute. The Indian author of the study was Dr Jagdish Kaur from the Directorate General of Health Services.

Senior officials at the ministry said though the percentages of MDE who were screen positive for depression were highest in India, other indicators such as the mean screen positive percentage in India was only 25 per cent, “All these figures have to be seen together, to avoid any statistical errors,” a senior official said.

Another official said, “There were a lot of disagreements between DGHS and AIIMS on the matter, and AIIMS sent the data without any intimation to the ministry. It is unfortunate that because of these problems, a true picture of the mental health problem in India have not emerged.”

Depression study: AIIMS sent figures from just 1 centre - Indian Express