Background: Aim of the research was to study the knowledge and perception of postmenopausal women towards menopause.Methods: It was a cross sectional study which was carried at outpatient department of psychiatry, Government medical college, Srinagar over a period of 3 months. Participants who fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study were evaluated on a semi-structured proforma for demographic variables, knowledge and attitude towards menopause.Results: A total of 120 postmenopausal women were included in our study. Mean age of study population was s 54.5±8.6 years. Majority of women belonged to rural background (80.0%) in the age group of 51-60 years (58.3%), married (78.3%), having 1-3 issues (53.3%) and had received no formal education (67.5%). Menopause was natural in (80.8%) of women and (19.2%) had surgical menopause. 85% of study population had heard about menopause at the time their periods stopped mostly from family elders and friends. 45% had knowledge about the age of the menopause, while as only (20.8%) were aware about the symptoms of menopause. 56.6% of study population were having positive perception about the menopause.Conclusions: Majority of our women were unaware of menopausal symptoms. Most of them considered it as a natural process of aging and thus were having a positive perception about the menopause.

Background: Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) refers to the electrical stimulation of the brain to produce seizures for therapeutic purpose. This study was undertaken with the aim of exploring the clinical and demographic profile of patients treated with ECT from a tertiary care psychiatry hospital in north India.Methods: It was a retrospective descriptive study of patients who were treated with ECT after admission in the inpatient psychiatry unit of Institute of mental health and neurosciences Kashmir during a period of one year (March 2017 to February 2018).Results: A total of 70 patients received ECT during the course of one year. About 72.85% of the patients belonged to 20-39 years age group. Female patients constituted more than half of the subjects (55.71%). Review of diagnostic profile showed that majority of patients receiving ECT were suffering from Schizophrenia (35.71%), followed by bipolar affective disorder (28.57%), depressive disorder (28.57%), schizoaffective disorder (4.28%) and substance induced mood/psychotic disorders (2.85%). A significant majority of subjects (57.13%) received about 7-9 ECT sessions. No any major complications were noted during ECT treatment.Conclusions: This study suggests that ECT, use as a treatment modality is common in adults between 20 to 39 years of age and females with Schizophrenia being the most common indications.

Background: Migraine is a highly prevalent and disabling neurological disorder associated with a wide range of psychiatric comorbidities. The aim of the study was to study the psychiatric comorbidities in patients with migraine.Methods: The study population comprised all the out patients who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of migraine attending a tertiary care psychiatry hospital over a period of 6 months. A total of 90 cases of migraine seen over a period of 6 months were analysed to know the demographic characteristics, clinical pattern and psychiatric comorbidity.Results: Maximum patients were between 21-40 years of age group (41.1%), females (83.3%), married (74.4%) and housewives (52.2%). 64.5% of study population was literate with a formal education above 10th standard. Migraine without aura was commonest sub-type (65.6%). Noise (75.6%) and sunlight (65.6%) was the most common precipitating factors. Anxiety disorders were the most common comorbid psychiatric disorders (40%), followed by major depressive disorder (24.4%). In 24.6% cases, no psychiatric comorbidity was present.Conclusions: Migraine is comorbid with several psychiatric disorders, including anxiety and depressive disorders. When migraine and a comorbid psychiatric disorder are present, it is important to take both disorders into account in formulating a treatment plan.

Background: Conversion (functional neurological symptom) disorder refers to patients who have neurological symptoms in the absence of neurological disease, encompassing one or more symptoms of altered voluntary motor or sensory function. Aim of the study was to study the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with conversion disorder.Methods: The study population comprised all the patients (both inpatients and outpatients) of conversion disorder attending department of psychiatry, government medical college Srinagar over a period of 6 months who fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study were evaluated on a semi-structured proforma for demographic variables and clinical characteristics.Results: A total of 76 patients of conversion disorder were included in our study. Conversion disorder is more common in age group of 20-29 years (52.6%), females (93.4%) and among students (71.1%) belonging to rural background. Motor symptoms were the predominant presentation with pseudo seizure (69.7%) being the commonest. A majority of the patients had an obvious psychosocial stressor, of which family-related (36.8%) and relationship- related (15.8%) problems accounted for the major types.Conclusions: Conversion disorders are commonly seen in young adult females, students and in those from rural background. They are mostly preceded by psychosocial stressors.

BACKGROUND: Intentional self-harm (ISH) is one of the most important entities of consultation-liaison psychiatry. This study aimed to assess the clinical profile of individuals with intentional self-harm referred to consultation-liaison (CL) psychiatric services in a tertiary care hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was a cross-sectional hospital-based study, in which purposive sampling was done for sample selection. A total of 60 subjects of ISH referred for evaluation in a tertiary care psychiatry hospital on specified days were recruited to the study after obtaining informed consent. Demographic and clinical details such as the nature of the self-harm attempt, method of attempt, number of attempts, the reason for the attempt, and regret/remorse about the attempt were documented using the semi-structured proforma. RESULTS: A total of 60 subjects were included in the study. About 80% of them were below the age of 30 years. The majority (80%) were females, 65% were from a rural background, 56.7% were married. The most common method of ISH was self-poisoning. Interpersonal conflicts with family members (50%), followed by interpersonal conflicts with the spouse/partner (21.7%) were the commonest reason/precipitating factors that lead to intentional self-harm. Also, 45% of our study population did not have any diagnosable psychiatric illness at the time of assessment, and the most common psychiatric diagnosis was personality disorders (20%). CONCLUSION: Intentional self-harm is common in young married females from rural backgrounds. Self-poisoning is the most common method of deliberate self-harm. More than half of the individuals were diagnosed with the psychiatric illness at presentation.