-The Hindu Poverty takes a huge toll on the mind and on this World Mental Health Day, the focus should be on the well-being offered by community-based alternative approaches In recent years, the impact of mental illness on the social and economic health of nations has been well understood, placing mental ill health as one of the leading causes of disability adjusted life years (DALY) worldwide. There has been much focus on...

-IANS The right of mentally-ill patients to decide their mode of treatment, decriminalising suicide for them and a ban on electric shock treatment without anaesthesia are some of the progressive provisions of the new mental health bill proposed by the government. "The bill was passed by the union cabinet last week," Health Secretary K. Desiraju told IANS. Once passed by parliament, the bill will repeal the Mental Health Act, 1987. If passed, it will...

-The Indian Express Last October, authorities in the north Karnataka city of Davangere rescued a 37-year-old man whose family had walled him into a room, with only a tiny window for ventilation, for 10 years after he had begun showing signs of schizophrenia. This month, authorities in Bangalore rescued a 35-year-old woman whose parents are said to have confined her at home for over five years after she showed signs of possible...

-The Times of India LONDON: Iodine deficiency during pregnancy, something rampant among Indian women, adversely affects the child's mental development. A UK study published in medical journal The Lancet on Thursday has shown that iodine - which is consumed mainly via dairy products and seafood - is essential for producing hormones made by the thyroid gland, which have a direct impact on fetal brain development. A recent Indian health ministry survey conducted in...

-The Hindu   Health problems apart, they have little time for family "My father comes home very late. He never attends school-day functions or parent-teacher meetings. There has hardly been a weekend when he took us out..." This is how children of police personnel responded at a family counselling session, organised by the Madurai district police recently. Many children complained that their parents working in the Police department were stressed out most of the...