This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Chaturvedi, S. K. Articles by Shaligram, D. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Chaturvedi, S. K. Articles by Shaligram, D. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Dissociative disorders in a psychiatry institute in India - a selected review and patterns over a decade

¹ Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India
² St Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: skchatur{at}gmail.com.

	Abstract

Background: The prevalence – and type – of dissociative disorders is considered to vary across cultures and over time.

Aims: The aim of the study was to examine patterns of dissociative disorders among subjects attending psychiatric services over a period of 10 years.

Methods: The sample consisted of both inpatients and outpatients attending a psychiatric hospital between 1999 and 2008. Information of those subjects diagnosed to have dissociative disorders was reviewed. A semi-structured proforma was used to collect information about demographic details and diagnosis.

Results: A total of 893 patients had been diagnosed with dissociative disorder over the past decade: 591 (66%) were outpatients and 302 (34%) were inpatients. The proportion of patients diagnosed with dissociative disorders ranged between 1.5 and 15.0 per 1,000 for outpatients and between 1.5 and 11.6 per 1,000 for inpatients. The majority of patients were diagnosed with dissociative motor dis-order (43.3% outpatients, 37.7% inpatients), followed by dissociative convulsions (23% outpatients, 27.8% inpatients). Female preponderance was seen across all sub-types of dissociative disorder except dissociative fugue.

Conclusions: Dissociative disorders are still commonly diagnosed in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Dissociative motor disorders and dissociative convulsions are the most common disorders. Unlike in the West, dissociative identity disorders were rarely diagnosed; instead, possession states were commonly seen in the Indian population, indicating cross-cultural disparity.

First published on September 17, 2009
International Journal of Social Psychiatry 2009, doi:10.1177/0020764009347335


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?