| VIEWPOINT/PERSPECTIVES (THEMESECTION: MENTAL HEALTH CAREBILL, 2013) |
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| Year : 2015 | Volume
: 31
| Issue : 2 | Page : 153-160 |
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Recent developments in community mental health: Relevance and relationship with the mental health care bill
Rakesh Kumar Chadda1, Bichitra Nanda Patra1, Nitin Gupta2
1 Department of Psychiatry, All Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
2 Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India
Correspondence Address:
Rakesh Kumar Chadda
Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi - 110 029
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0971-9962.173296
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Community mental health refers to the treatment of persons with mental disorders in the community. In the earlier periods, treatment of patients with mental illness was limited to the mental hospitals or asylums. This paper traces the beginnings of community psychiatry in India from the time Dr. Vidya Sagar initiated his famous experiment of treating patients with mental illnesses along with family members in tents outside the mental hospital, Amritsar. It then discusses the role of the National Mental Health Program and the District Mental Health Program. The role of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability in leading onto the development of the current Mental Health Care Bill, 2013 is discussed. Authors critically evaluate some of the merits and drawbacks of the Bill as related to recent developments in community mental health in India. |
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