The National Mental Health Survey of India (2016): Prevalence, socio-demographic correlates and treatment gap of mental morbidity
Authors: Gautham Melur Sukumar , Gururaj Gopalkrishna , Varghese Mathew , Benegal Vivek , Rao Girish N , Kokane Arun , Chavan Bir Singh , Dalal Pronob Kumar , Ram Daya , Pathak Kangkan , Lenin Singh Raj Kumar , Singh Lokesh Kumar , Sharma Pradeep , Saha Pradeep Kumar , Ramasubramanian Chellamuthu , Mehta Ritambhara Yeshwant , Shibukumar Theerthankara Meethal , Deuri Sonia Pereira , Krishnatreya Mousumi , Gogoi Vijay , Sobhana H , Sengupta Saumik , Banerjee Indrajeet , Sharma Sameer , Giri Anjan Kumar , Kavishvar Abhay Bhaskar , Dave Kamlesh Rushikray , Chauhan Naresh T , Sinha Vinod K , Goyal Nishanth , Thavody Jayakrishnan , Anish PK , Bina Thomas , Pakhare Abhijit P , Mittal Pankaj , Ray Sukanya , Chatterji Rajni , Akoijam Brogen Singh , Singh Heramani , Gojendro  , Kayina Priscilla , Singh L Roshan , Das Subhash , Puri Sonia , Garg Rohit , Kashyap Amita , Satija Yogesh , Gaur Kusum , Sharma Divya , Sathish RV , Selvi M , Krishnaraj  , Singh SK , Agarwal Vivek , Sharma Eesha , Kar Sujit K , Misra Raghunath , Neogi Rajashri , Sinha Debasish , Saha Soumyadeep , Halder Ajoy , Aravind BA , Amudhan R Senthil , Banandur S Pradeep , Subbakrishna DK , Marimuthu Thennaarasu P , Kumar B Binu , Jain Sanjeev , Reddy YC Janardhan , Jagadisha T , Sivakumar PT , Chand Prabhat Kumar , Muralidharan K , Reddi Senthil , Kumar C Naveen , Prasad M Krishna , Jaisoorya TS , Janardhanan CN , Sharma Mahendra Prakash , Suman LN , Paulomi S , Kumar Keshav , Sharma Manoj Kumar , Manjula M , Bhola Poornima , Roopesh BN , Kishore M Thomas , Veena S , Mary K Aruna Rose , Anand Nitin , Srinath Shobha , Girimaji Satish Chandra , Vijayasagar K John , Kasi Sekar , Muralidhar D , Pandian R Dhanasekara , Hamza Ameer , Janardhana N , Raj E Aravinda , Majhi Gobinda 
Published: March 2020

Background:

Recognizing the need for good quality, scientific and reliable information for strengthening mental health policies and programmes, the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) of India was implemented by National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, in the year 2015–2016.

Aim:

To estimate the prevalence, socio-demographic correlates and treatment gap of mental morbidity in a representative population of India.

Methods:

NMHS was conducted across 12 Indian states where trained field investigators completed 34,802 interviews using tablet-assisted personal interviews. Eligible study subjects (18+ years) in households were selected by a multi-stage, stratified, random cluster sampling technique. Mental morbidity was assessed using MINI 6. Three-tier data monitoring system was adopted for quality assurance. Weighted and specific prevalence estimates were derived (current and lifetime) for different mental disorders. Mental morbidity was defined as those disorders as per the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision Diagnostic Criteria for Research (ICD-10 DCR). Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to examine risk for mental morbidity by different socio-demographic factors. Survey was approved by central and state-level institutional ethical committees.

Results:

The weighted lifetime prevalence of ‘any mental morbidity’ was estimated at 13.67% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 13.61, 13.73) and current prevalence was 10.56% (95% CI = 10.51, 10.61). Mental and behavioural problems due to psychoactive substance use (F10–F19; 22.44%), mood disorders (F30–F39; 5.61%) and neurotic and stress-related disorders (F40–F48; 3.70%) were the most commonly prevalent mental morbidity in India. The overall prevalence was estimated to be higher among males, middle-aged individuals, in urban-metros, among less educated and in households with lower income. Treatment gap for overall mental morbidity was 84.5%.

Conclusion:

NMHS is the largest reported survey of mental morbidity in India. Survey estimated that nearly 150 million individuals suffer from one or the other mental morbidity in India. This information is to be used for planning, delivery and evaluating mental health programming in the country.