Identifying the 'mentally disabled' in the community: How much more is to be imparted to the internees in training?

Background: Studies have been conducted on the skills of physicians in general hospitals in identifying mental disorders,but there are no studies assessing the proficiency of internees in identifying mental disorders.

Aim: To confirm the diagnosis of the cases identified by 40 internees in the community as 'mentally disabled'.

Materials and methods: Of 15,583 people,29 were identified in the community by the internees as 'mentally disabled'. This was followed by home visits to the houses of these 29 individuals conducted by two qualified psychiatrists and one clinical psychologist, and these cases were screened for their psychiatric status using MINI Plus.

Results: Most of the cases identified by internees as having 'mental disability' were cases of mental retardation and the others were mood and psychotic disorders and epilepsy. Cases of mental retardation and mental disorders other than those identified by the internees could also be identified while visiting the respective geographical areas.

Conclusions: There is a need to hone the skills of the medical students during the course of their training in identifying cases of mental retardation, severe as well as minor psychiatric disorders, as a part of their training. There is also a need for the use of structured scales for the same.