Survey of psychiatric morbidity in a semi‐urban population in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper reports a survey of psychiatric morbidity in a semi-urban community (population 7,653) in Sri Lanka. The entire population was first screened by social workers using a standardized interview. Probable cases were then examined by psychiatrists. Each psychiatric disorder identified was rated on four different parameters of severity, and only those rating moderate or severe were labelled as cases. The socio-demographic characteristics of the cases and the population at risk, and the frequency and nature of psychiatric disorders are presented in Tables. The 6-month period prevalence for all psychiatric disorders was 45.5 per 1,000, with psychoses amounting to 6.9 (males 5.5; females 8.4) per 1,000, and neuroses to 25.2 (males 9.9; females 40.6) per 1,000. The large majority of disorders were chronic and had not received psychiatric treatment. The relevance of these surveys in the provision of psychiatric services in developing countries is discussed.

The level of happiness among garment factory employees and factors affecting it, in two selected garment factories

“…No significant associations were found between happiness and; sex, salary grade and number of job accidents; which was in contrast to the findings of some priorre search [7,12]. Direct comparison is not possible due to the absen ceofany, which studieda similartar get population.…”

The cross-cultural study of emotions

“…There are a few exceptions but these are but drops of water in the ocean. It is understandable in view of the time and effort required that such studies can be counted on the fingers of two hands (Rin and Lin 1962;Leighton et al 1963;Gillis et al 1968;Van Lujik 1969a andb, Dube 1970;Elnagar et al 1971;Thacore et al 1975;Wijesinghe et al (to be published); Orley and Wing (to be published)). The answer is very different for the psychiatrist and the psychologist.…”

Frigophobia: A case series from Sri Lanka

“…Frigophobia was more common among women in our case series. The overrepresentation of females with neurosis has been noted previously (Wijesinghe et al, 1978). This may be due to the fact that women are traditionally more subservient, particularly in rural communities of Sri Lanka, and may have limited options to express personal distress.…”

“…Although not labelled as such, frigophobia may have contributed to earlier reports of neurosis in Sri Lanka (Gunesekera, 1931). Wijesinghe, Dissanayake, and Dassanayake (1978) conducted a well-designed survey of psychiatric morbidity in a semiurban population in Sri Lanka. While the 6-month prevalence for all psychiatric disorders was 45.5 per 1,000, neuroses accounted for 25.2 (males 9.9; females 40.6) per 1,000.…”