Psychological stress is on the rise leading to a spurt in mental disorders and acute shortage of psychiatrists to deal with the situation is a matter of grave concern, said members of the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) here on Friday.
IPS president R.K. Ayodhya and other office-bearers G. Samaram, I. Vishal, T.V. Pavan Kumar, K. Suresh, V. Sadanandam and S. Ashok Babu addressed the media as part of the World Mental Health Week campaign.
They said the country had a population of 24 crore suffering from mental disorders as against just 4,000 practising psychiatrists. The number of Indian doctors practising in the United States is 7,000, nearly double the number of doctors here.
The number of patients suffering from anxiety is increasing exponentially, but most of them do not get the counselling or treatment required, the psychiatrists said.
Changes in the socio-economic and political conditions in various parts of the world, wars and conflicts and anxiety among the younger lot are causing damage, they added.
