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Background Imbalanced portrayal of suicide by the media can have adverse public health consequences. We aimed to evaluate the psychosocial context, as well as the quality of media reporting, of suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) population. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate online news reports discussing the suicide of LGBTQI+ persons published between January 2011 and January 2021. Psychosocial factors associated with suicide were extracted from the reports. Quality of suicide reporting was checked against international as well as locally relevant reporting guidelines. Results A total of 135 suicide reports from five newspapers were analyzed. Multiple psychosocial stressors were reported in 54.5% of the suicides. Social stigma was the most common factor associated with LGBTQI+ suicide. Several breaches of reporting were noted in relation to mentioning the identity (55.6%) and method of suicide (54.3%) in the title of report and inclusion of the deceased's photograph (20.4%). Potentially helpful reporting characteristics, such as including educational information (2.2%), mentioning warning signs (12.6%) and suicide support service details (3.7%), were rarely practiced. Local language news articles displayed more frequent and serious violations compared to English news reports. Conclusion Indian media reporting of suicide among LGBTQI+ persons is poorly adherent to reporting guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Mindfulness interventions have shown promising results in both psychological and clinical outcomes of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Depression, self-management, and quality of life (QOL) have shown improvement with mindfulness interventions; however, little is known about dispositional mindfulness and its relationship with depression, self-management, and QOL in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Aims: The aim of this study is to assess the relationship of dispositional mindfulness with depression, self-management, and QOL in patients of type 2 diabetes. Settings and Design: Noncommunicable disease outpatient department of a tertiary care medical center of East India. Cross-sectional study. Subjects and Methods: Ninety-nine patients with type 2 diabetes completed the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire, Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire, and World Health Organization QOL BREF questionnaire and Hamilton Rating Scale for depression. Statistical Analysis Used: Pearson's correlation and hierarchical regression analysis using the SPSS software version 20.0. Results: Describing, acting with awareness, and nonjudging facets of mindfulness showed a negative correlation with depression (P < 0.05). Acting with awareness and nonreactivity to inner experience were positively correlated with the physical activity domains of self-management (P < 0.05). All facets of mindfulness showed a positive correlation with four domains of QOL. In hierarchical regression analysis, after controlling for sociodemographic and clinical variables, mindfulness predicted the psychological domain of QOL, explaining 31% of the variance (P ≤ 0.001). However, mindfulness did not predict depression or self-management. Conclusions: Dispositional mindfulness is a strong predictor of QOL in type 2 diabetes mellitus and hence can be targeted with interventions to improve psychological outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Celebrity suicides have the potential to trigger suicide contagion, particularly when media reporting is detailed and imbalanced. We aimed to assess the quality of media reporting of suicide of a popular Indian entertainment celebrity against the World Health Organization (WHO) suicide reporting guidelines. Methods Relevant news articles that reported the actor's suicide were retrieved from online news portals of regional and English language newspapers and television channels in the immediate week following the event. Deductive content analysis of these articles was done using a pre-designed data extraction form. Results A total of 573 news articles were analyzed. Several breaches of reporting were noted in relation to mentioning the word 'celebrity' in the title of report (14.7%), inclusion of the deceased's photograph (88.5%), detailed descriptions of the method (50.4%) and location of suicide (70.6%); local language newspapers were more culpable than English newspapers. Helpful reporting characteristics such as mentioning warning signs (4.1%), including educational information (2.7%) and suicide support line details (14.0%) were rarely practiced. Conclusion Media reporting of celebrity suicide in India is imbalanced and poorly adherent to suicide reporting recommendations. Local language news reports display more frequent and serious violations in reporting as opposed to English news articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the authors discuss the issues related to the list of psychotherapeutic drugs/medicines provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India on August 2019. The list complied with the provisions of the Mental Health Care Act (MHCA) of 2017. The list included medicines used in Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy and Naturopathy (AYUSH) systems.

Objective: Little is known about changes in quality of media reporting of suicide in the community following a celebrity suicide. Our objective was to compare trends in quality of media reporting of suicide, before and after the suicide of an Indian entertainment celebrity, against the World Health Organization suicide reporting guidelines. Method: Online news portals of English and local language newspapers, as well as television channels, were searched to identify relevant suicide-related news articles. Comparison of reporting characteristics before and after the celebrity suicide was performed using chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Results: A total of 3867 eligible news reports were retrieved. There was a significant increase in harmful reporting characteristics, such as reporting the name, age and gender of the deceased (p < 0.001 for all comparisons), mentioning the location (p < 0.001) and reason for suicide (p = 0.04) and including photos of the deceased (p = 0.002) following the celebrity suicide. Helpful reporting practices were less affected; there was a significant rise in inclusion of expert opinion (p = 0.04) and mention of suicide-related warning signs (p = 0.02). Conclusion: Following a celebrity suicide, significant changes in the quality of media reporting of suicide were noted with an increase in several potentially harmful reporting characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide-related mortality statistics varies across countries, as it is influenced by several risk factors.[1] India accounts for more than 1/4th of global suicides.[2] Behind every suicide death in India, there are more than 15 attempts for suicide and more than 200 people with suicidal ideation.[2] The recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on "Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India" reports that the suicide rate has increased from 10.2 in 2018 to 10.4 in 2019.[3] There is a 3.4% rise in suicide compared to the previous year, which is alarming. Graph: 10.1177 0253717620973416-fig1.tif A Brief Overview of NCRB Suicide Data Since 1967, NCRB publishes yearly reports on suicides in India. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Little is known about the factors that determine vulnerability to subsequent suicide in the community following a celebrity suicide. Our objective was to investigate the link between an alleged celebrity suicide and further suicidal behaviour in the community in India. Methods: Relevant news articles that reported suicidal behaviour in the population were retrieved from online news portals of regional and English language newspapers in the immediate month following the actor's death. A deductive analysis of the retrieved suicide news articles was carried out using a pre-designed data extraction form. Results: A total of 1160 relevant news articles were identified from the local language (n = 985) and English (n = 175) newspapers. For a sizeable percentage of these reports (n = 65, 5.6%), the media reported links with celebrity suicide. Odds of subsequent suicide among young (Odds Ratios [OR] – 9.24), female (OR – 1.94), unemployed (OR – 7.26), those without precipitating life events (OR – 2.94) or mental illness (OR – 1.69) were higher among those with link to celebrity suicide; likewise, odds of death by hanging (OR – 49.84) and leaving a suicide note (OR – 2.03) were higher among those linked to celebrity suicide. English newspapers (OR – 4.23) were more likely to report events linked to celebrity suicide than local language newspapers Conclusion: Persons who died by suicide by hanging after a celebrity suicide are more likely to be young, female, unemployed, have a mental disorder or precipitating life events. Suicide prevention efforts must focus on this group and prevent the same method of suicide like that of the celebrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To evaluate the beliefs held by the public regarding sexual health, pregnancy, and breastfeeding during COVID-19 era.Methods: It was an online cross-sectional survey conducted through the Survey Monkey® platform and after proper ethical approval a self-designed questionnaire was circulated by the snowballing sampling technique through the Whatsapp platform.Results: 1636 people respondent to the survey questionnaire. 63% of the participants mentioned that kissing could spread nCoV-SARS. Unprotected sexual intercourse with the spouse can cause infection spread, was reported by about one-third (35.9%). Nearly one-fifth (22%) thought that unprotected sexual intercourse with unknown partners/persons could not spread the infection. About half (49.7%) of the participants reported COVID-19 infection can be transmitted from mother to the child/fetus during the process of birth or during pregnancy and one-fifth (21.3%) of the participants reported going ahead with the Cesarean section if the mother is suspected of having or is confirmed to have COVID-19 infection. About one-fifth feared for risk of birth defects and abortion in case the mother is infected with COVID-19. 28% of the participants reported COVID-19 infection can be transmitted to newborn by breastfeeding.Conclusions: The present study suggests that a significant proportion of people have misinformation about sexual intimacy, pregnancy, and breastfeeding in the ongoing pandemic which needs to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent changes in medical education and health-care systems, stressful work condition and concurrent destabilizing psychosocial dynamics can result in adverse consequences of medical trainee's mental health. This can range from the usual stress in a medical school to distress and long-term burnout emerging into psychological disorders often underrecognized and ill managed. Stigma and poorly integrated available mental health services, administration, peers, and families can be roadblocks to implement an effective campus mental health services. This article also provides a template of student mental health service model in our institution and suggested measures for a holistic professional grooming during medical curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of the Study: This study aims to evaluate the parenting skills of patients with schizophrenia as perceived by themselves and their children and compare the same with a matched healthy control group of parents and their children. Materials and Methods: Fifty-one patients with schizophrenia and their 51 children were assessed on the Alabama Parenting Scale. A healthy control group of 51 parents and their children were also assessed for parenting. Results: The mean age of parents with schizophrenia was 45.23 years. Compared to the parents in the healthy control group, patients with schizophrenia reported deficits in the domains of positive involvement, positive parenting; more often report poor monitoring/supervision, and inconsistent discipline. When the children of patients with schizophrenia and children of healthy parents were compared, children of healthy control parents reported higher positive involvement, positive parenting; and lower corporal punishment and inconsistent discipline. Except for few associations, parenting was not affected by demographic and clinical profile of the patients with schizophrenia. Conclusion: The present study suggests that patients with schizophrenia have deficits in parenting and there is a need to improve the parenting skills of the patients with schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a position statement, in 2014, the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS), one of the largest bodies of mental health professionals globally, had proposed certain recommendations for the sensible media reporting about suicide.[11] They emphasized keeping the suicide stories neutral, discrete, and sensitive. While framing the guidelines, PCI had considered the WHO guideline.[7] The PCI guideline appeals to the media to refrain from certain reporting styles that may negatively impact the public (Figure 1). To the Editor, Media reporting of suicide significantly influences the suicidal behavior in vulnerable individuals.[1],[2] Studies have found a poor quality of suicide reporting by media.[3][4][5]-[6] To regulate the irresponsible media reporting of suicide, the World Health Organization (WHO) had developed a guideline in 2017.[7] Referring to this guideline, the Press Council of India (PCI) has also developed a guideline.[8],[9] It was developed by the central statutory body (authority) of PCI, in reference to the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, section 24 (1), which deals with reporting news about psychiatric disorders. [Extracted from the article]

The release of the Telepsychiatry Operational Guidelines 2020 in India, during the COVID-19 pandemic, is a relief for both clinicians and patients. These guidelines embark on initiating and executing naive and recently started telepsychiatry services in India. The document is aligned with other ethical regulations, policies, laws and the 2020 Telemedicine Practice Guidelines in India. This paper discusses a few points about the broader applicability of the guideline for the benefit of humankind in the prevailing healthcare crisis. The guidelines may be extrapolated in policy-making for telepsychiatry services in other low- and middle-income countries sharing a similar socioeconomic, cultural and political milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective  There is no systematic report on pathway to care in autism from tertiary care medical centers of India. The present study was aimed to evaluate the pathways to care among parents of children with autism-seeking treatment at a tertiary care medical center. Methods  Cross-sectional, observational study involving parents of 38 children with autism spectrum disorder diagnosed with INCLEN diagnostic tool. Pathway to care was assessed using World Health Organization Encounter Form. Statistical Analysis   IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0 was used for analysis; categorical variables were assessed using Chi-square test keeping statistical significance at 0.05%. Results  A total of 74% parents reported going to a general practitioner and 13% reported going to a child psychiatrist as point of first contact. Among them, 71% parents reported seeking care with a child psychiatrist in a tertiary medical center at the fourth point of contact. Also, 84% parents believed in biomedical explanation of autism. Majority of parents sought for speech therapy and medicines for their child with autism which is in tune with their biomedical explanation. Parents were the first to identify developmental concerns, average age of symptom recognition being 2.2 years. Average age of intervention initiation was 40 months, 8 months prior to diagnosis of autism. Conclusions  Early symptom recognition and initiation of interventions is encouraging. Despite having a biomedical explanation of autism and ability to recognize developmental concerns, there is a lag of 4 years in diagnosis and reaching a specialized child psychiatry setup. This lag is a cause of concern owing to the impact on access to evidence-based interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factitious disorder (FD) has diverse presentations but neurological presentation is unusual. In this report, we discuss a case of FD who presented with triparesis, that is, weakness of both lower limbs and right upper limb. Diagnosis of FD was made after detailed clinical evaluation, review of past medical records that revealed extensive evaluation to rule out physical illness, and inability to find any associated stressful event or material gain associated with illness. Management was largely supportive and was based on psychotherapy. Identification of FD depends on a high index of suspicion by the physician and the presence of atypical and medically unexplainable signs/symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tobacco use and physical inactivity are major risk factors for NCDs. Adequate physical activity keeps one healthy but sedentary life style may contribute to other unhealthy practices like tobacco use. There is a need to identify if and how the two risk factors are interrelated so as to address them more strategically. Objectives: To assess the level of physical activity and to identify its association with tobacco use among college going youth in Chandigarh. Material & Methods: Data on physical activity and tobacco use was collected from 500 students aged 18-24 years studying in different professional and nonprofessional colleges of Chandigarh in year, through a multistage stratified random sampling technique. We used semi-structured, self-administered questionnaires-namely 78 item Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) for assessing tobacco use status and GPAQ (Global Physical Activity Questionnaire) for assessment of physical activity. Binary logistics regression analysis was done to find association between tobacco use and physical activity. Odd's ratio & 95% confidence interval (C.I.) was calculated. Results: Of the 500 individuals studied, 12.8% (n=64) were physically inactive, 10% (n=50) were active and 76.2% (n=381) were highly active. Females (15.8%) were more inactive as compared to males (12.1%). Highly active respondents were seen more in 18-20 years age group (77.6%) as compared to 21-22 years age group (76.1%). The odds of consuming tobacco is significantly lower among physically active respondents as compared to inactive respondents. Conclusions: Our findings indicate a significant relationship between physical activity and tobacco use among youth. Promotion of physical activity may be a useful educational tool for reducing tobacco use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sir, C elebrity suicide has a negative impact on public health, chiefly by its potential to trigger suicide contagion (Werther effect) among vulnerable individuals. These effects are accentuated by detailed and imbalanced media portrayals of celebrity suicide, a prevalent and concerning practice in Asia.1 Questions remain on the potential drivers of this observed vulnerability to imitative suicidal behavior. [Extracted from the article]

T he COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented impact across the globe. It seems that the COVID-19 pandemic may be a blessing in disguise to enhance the horizons of OST in India. On the one hand, this pandemic has created multiple challenges to PWUO13; on the other hand, glancing over the grim reality of PWUO in India, it has also introduced promising opportunities and propitious evolutions that should be further strengthened during the post-COVID-19 era. [Extracted from the article]

Vitamin D plays an important role in brain development and critical brain functions due to its myriad effects on the growth and functions of different brain cells. Association between vitamin D deficiency and depression, seasonal affective disorder and schizophrenia in adults is well known and few reports are available for association of vitamin D deficiency and neurodevelopmental disorders especially schizophrenia and autism in children. Very early onset schizophrenia (VEOS) i.e. onset before 13 years of age, has florid symptoms, chronic course and poorer outcome owing to the abnormalities occurring during brain development where vitamin D deficiency may play a role. Though literature reports the association between vitamin D deficiency and neurodevelopmental disorders, cause-effect relationship is not established. A few studies report better course and outcome following vitamin D supplementation in children with vitamin D deficiency and neurodevelopmental disorders, despite uncertainties in research evidence. This paper aim to present two cases of VEOS associated with vitamin D deficiency highlighting the need for identification of deficiency, and supplementation thereby, for a possible better outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many care providers have adopted virtual health delivery to circumvent disruptions caused by the pandemic-related physical restrictions and ensure continuity of health-care services.[1] The term "telehealth" refers to remote delivery of health-care services using telecommunication technology. To the editor, The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in several changes in the landscape of health-care service delivery. As health-care organizations consider future-proofing telehealth services, assessment of clinical outcomes and utilizing this information to chart future courses of telehealth services will be a key component. [Extracted from the article]