Socio-economic status and mental morbidity in certain tribes and castes in India--a cross-cultural study.

The authors made a field-survey of mental morbidity in all the tribal and caste groups residing in a cluster of villages in West Bengal, India, and found that, in each group, higher socio-economic classes had higher rates of mental morbidity. Different groups having a similar cultural pattern showed no significant difference in their rates of morbidity. Groups having different cultural patterns differed significantly in their rates of morbidity.

A clinical evaluation of depressives found in a rural survey in India.

Those who were labelled as depressives in a rural survey were randomly divided into a Medicine group (who received antidepressive drug treatment), a Placebo group (who received placebo) and a Natural Process group (who received no treatment). The depth of their depression was assessed by Hamilton's Depressive Rating Scale before the beginning of the trial, on the 14th day and on the 28th day of trial. They were compared with a matched group of healthy controls and again with a matched group of depressives who attended an urban clinic for treatment.