Impact of socio-vocational rehabilitation on work productivity and social behavior of inpatients with chronic schizophrenia.

Background: A large proportion of persons with schizophrenia are either abandoned by their family members in mental hospitals or do not have any family members to look after them. Therefore, almost 2/3 of hospital beds are occupied by chronic schizophrenic patients. Very few beds are available for the treatment of acute mental patients who need urgent hospitalization.

Trends and issues in community mental health programs in India: The Ranchi Institute of Neuropsychiatry and Allied Sciences experience.

Psychiatric disorders are among the leading causes of disability the world over. With the World Health Organization, spearheading the crusade to incorporate the mental health component into primary health care, developing countries also have accepted the need for community care of patients with psychiatric disorders. Since independence various initiatives by the government has led to a significant change in the place of mental health care as part of the general health care.

Neuroplasticity--a paradigm shift in neurosciences.

Neuroplasticity is the phenomenon in brain where different stimuli lead to increase or decrease in the number of brain cells and remodelling of synapses. Neuroplasticity research has now established beyond doubt that instead being a static cell mass, our brain is actually a dynamic system of neural network that has the capability of significant growth under favourable circumstances. This obviously opens up new possibilities in treatment of disorders where neural loss or synaptic decay is major factor in molecular aetiopathogeneis.