Mental health in an Indian industrial population: Screening for psychiatric symptoms

The mental health status of industrial population was studied by a two stage screening for psychiatric symptoms. The sample (n=583) were initially screened by General Health Questionnaire-12, and the data on socio-demography, job attribution and substance use were collected. Persons who were positive by GHQ - 12 (n = 220, 37.7%) were assessed by Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS). A considerable proportion of the employees had psychiatric symptoms. The common ones were anxiety and depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances. Global rating of illness in CPRS suggested severe and incapacitating illness in 2.4%, moderate illnesses in 17.8% and doubtful or illness with minimal severity in 6.7% of employees. Harmful use or dependence of substances was present in 17.3%. The implications of these findings are discussed.