Psychiatric disability curable: KAPD

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, AUG. 7. An estimated three per cent of the population suffers from what experts now define as ``psychiatric disabilities'', and the recently formed Karnataka Association for Psychiatric Disability (KAPD) is seeking to become an agency to lobby for persons with such disabilities.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, the association President, Dr. M. Prakash Appaya, sought to emphasise the fact that psychiatric disability was not mental retardation, and patients could be cured, or the condition minimised, with appropriate treatment.

The KAPD, along with rehabilitation and support groups such as AMEND, Friends of NIMHANS, Andrews Rehabilitation Trust, CADAMBAM's Home for the Mentally Ill, to name a few, have already sent out appeals to the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment seeking inclusion of persons with psychiatric disabilities in the National Trust Act, 1999.

Dr. Appaya said the groups working for those with psychiatric disabilities were pushing for advocacy in providing them equal opportunities, protecting their fundamental rights, and ensuring their full participation in the mainstream.

The KAPD also laid stress on efforts to prevent psychiatric disability through mental health education, and was of the view that all organisations and groups should coordinate with each other and speak with one voice on issues of mental health, he said.

The KAPD, in its memorandum to the Union Government seeking the inclusion of persons with psychiatric disabilities in the National Trust Act, has urged that along with persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities, they should be allowed to benefit from laws geared to address the needs of persons with other kind of disabilities.

``It took 20 years in the U.S. to differentiate between psychiatric disability and other more serious mental illness,'' Dr. Appaya said. It was now know that mentally ill persons become disabled largely because of chronicity, lack of support from family and community, non-availability of diagnostic and treatment service, and poor rehabilitation interventions, among other things. The disabilities generally manifested themselves as problems in the areas of self-care, interpersonal activities, communication and understanding, and work.

Presently, very few registered voluntary organisations actually addressed the needs of these people and their families. They were generally self-financing, and the irregular income often meant inability to maintain and sustain standards of care. The existing facilities in the registered voluntary sector catered to just about 2,000 persons against 60 lakh persons who needed the facilities, Dr. Appaya said.

The KAPD can be contacted at The Richmond Fellowship Society, Asha, 501, 47th Cross, 9th Main, V Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore 560 041 (Phone: 6645583).

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Section  : Southern States
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