Om Prakash Singh

West Bengal University of Health Sciences | WBUHS · Department of Psychiatry

Several studies have suggested insulin resistance related to dyslipidemia and body weight in drug treated schizophrenia patients. Although, insulin resistance or impaired glucose tolerance is also reported in antipsychotic naïve schizophrenia patients, their relationship with dyslipidemic changes and body weight is not well established. The present...

Oxidative stress induced lipid peroxidation has been a significant contributing factor for schizophrenia. Older antipsychotics, like haloperidol , were found to increase lipid peroxidation, whereas, the newer atypical antipsychotics, like olanzapine, did not generate free radicals as metabolic end products. The interrelationship of the antioxidant...

Oxidative stress induced lipid peroxidation along with a reduced Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity has been implicated in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorders (BPD). Although, lithium therapy results in significant improvement in the symptoms of the disease, studies regarding its effect on the altered sodium pump activity and lipid peroxidation status...

Unlabelled: Opiod dependence is one of the leading psychiatric morbidities in India. The deaddiction centres are meager in number; stigma attached to admission in deaddiction centre is high and most addicts want outpatient treatment so that they do not miss daily wages. Several recent reports stated effectiveness of tramadol in treating opioid wit...

Oxidative stress is thought to play an important role in several neuropsychiatric diseases including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Thiobarbituric acid reacting substances (TBARS) are products formed as a result of free radical induced lipid peroxidation in the human body. Our study investigated the correlation between TBARS and the clinical...

Ethics in Dealing with Pharma Industry

Background Patients’ satisfaction with healthcare services contributes to their compliance with the treatment and thus impacts their health. Therefore, patient satisfaction is increasingly being used as an indicator of health system performance in a country. Though several studies have been reported from different parts of India, most did not inclu...

This article is intended to address the plummeting numbers of trained medical personnel in developing countries due to exodus to developed lands often termed as ‘brain drain’ and to put forth ideas and suggestions that turn this brain drain into ‘brain exchange’ thereby benefiting both the donor and the recipient countries. A few suggestions presen...

We developed an integrated device composed of a single-probe Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Charge Coupled Device (CCD) based motion sensors for objective measurement of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). While the measurement of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (MAHD) relies on the EEG signal for the assessment of attention d...

Context: Telemedicine Practice Guidelines and Telepsychiatry Operational Guidelines released in 2020 have provided legal backing for telepsychiatry practice. Aims: To understand the current telepsychiatry practices in India. Settings and design: An online survey was conducted after ethics approval by the IPS Ethics Review Board. All psychiatri...

Context: Over the years, telepsychiatry services have expanded in many institutes. The Telemedicine Practice Guidelines and Telepsychiatry Operational Guidelines (TPOG) released in 2020 have been received by the fraternity with a mixture of apprehension, relief, and dissatisfaction on the list of drugs provided in Lists O, A, B, and C. Many psychi...

Context: Telepsychiatry is being practiced in India for many years but was formalized only in 2020. It has many advantages and disadvantages. Aims: This study aimed to understand the perceived advantages and disadvantages of telepsychiatry practices in India. Settings and design: An online survey with ethics approval by the Indian Psychiatric...

Background: Little information is available from India about the psychological impact of COVID-19 on helath-care workers. Aim: The current study aimed to evaluate the psychological issues among the health-care workers (HCW) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: An online survey using Survey Monkey® platform was carried out to ev...

Background: Cognitive impairments are fundamental in schizophrenia with verbal memory impairments commonly occurring not only in patients but also in unaffected genetically susceptible individuals. Deficits in verbal memory produce difficulty in problem-solving, emotional distress, and worsening of daily life skills resulting in a poor quality of l...

Objective: : Schizophrenia is a serious disease characterized by impairment in the perception or expression of reality, leading to occupational and social dysfunction. The use of antipsychotic medication is now universal in the first-line treatment of schizophrenia. This study was undertaken to compare the efficacy of asenapine with a standard aty...

Background: No information is available about the impact of lockdown and COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health services in the private practice in India. Aim: The current study is aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on the state of Mental Health Services in the Private Sector in India. Materials and methods: An on...

The COVID19 pandemic is an unprecedented disaster. In India, the spread of COVID19 infection and the subsequent lockdown coincided with a crucial period of the annual examination in almost all educational institutions. The pandemic has created hurdles in the conduct of examination due to many reasons, some of which are spread of infection and assoc...

Background: There is some information from different developed coutries that mental health services have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Little information is available from India. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of lockdown and COVID-19 pandemic on mental health services in India's various training centers....

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a complete shut-down of the entire world and almost all the countries are presently in a "lockdown" mode. While the lockdown strategy is an essential step to curb the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases, the impact of the same on mental health is not well known. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the ps...

207 crucial in effective implementation of curriculum. Training of psychiatric teachers should happen at state and zonal level in a periodic manner. Within the next 3 years, at least one-third faculty members of psychiatry at Indian medical institutions should be trained in the teaching-learning methodologies that are specific to psychiatry. Guidel...

This book is for undergraduate medical students and is compliant with recently introduced competency based curriculum. The book is based on DSM-5. Key points at the end of the chapter help in quick revision. Case based questions help to understand the clinical presentation of the disorder.

Chronic catatonia is sparingly reported in modern practice, but remains an entity with significant morbidity and clinical heterogeneity. Although this remains a relatively rare occurrence, we report that catatonic posturing could still be severe enough to cause deformity. We found that long-term high dose lorazepam has a beneficial effect on chroni...

Neurosurgery for psychiatric disorders (NPD) has been practiced for >80 years. However, the interests have waxed and waned, from 1000s of surgeries in 1940-1950s to handful of surgery in 60-80s. This changed with the application of deep brain stimulation surgery, a surgery, considered to be 'reversible' there has been a resurgence in interest. The...

Marriage is a formal union of a man and woman by which they become husband and wife. Rape is the forcible seizure or the ravishment of a woman without her consent by force, fear or fraud. Marital Rape is the unwanted intercourse by a man on his wife obtained by force or physical violence or when she is unable to give consent. It is relatively new t...

The history of psychiatry in Bengal mirrors the history of psychiatry in India. With Bengal being an important location for the East India Company, it became the locus for much infrastructure development, including the setting up of lunatic asylums. This article traces the development of psychiatric care in Bengal, from the early time of private as...

Background: Na + /K +-ATPase (NKA) activity is compromised in several neuropsychiatric disorders. Oxidative stress and membrane lipid composition play important roles in regulating NKA activity. Aims: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of oxidative stress-induced membrane lipid damage and membrane cholesterol composition on NK...

Background: Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) activity is compromised in several neuropsychiatric disorders. Oxidative stress and membrane lipid composition play important roles in regulating NKA activity. Aims: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of oxidative stress-induced membrane lipid damage and membrane cholesterol composition on NKA p...

Context: Cholecystokinin A receptor (CCK-AR) gene polymorphism is being increasingly reported in schizophrenia. It varies among different population groups but is associated with several complications of schizophrenia. Aims: The present study was undertaken to assess whether the CCK-AR polymorphism is stabilized and is more consistently associat...

Aims and objective: Acute Stress Disorder is common after a major life threatening condition. It varies in different countries and over different cultures. Our aim is to study the prevalence of Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) and prediction of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in victims of a major train accident in India. Design: Cross-sectional st...

Introduction : Epidemiological studies simultaneously investigating the combined effects of psychiatric and psychosocial risk factors for suicide are sparse. Presently no distinctive grouping has been done combining the suicide intent and lethality of attempt though there are significant variations in psycho-socio-demographic character within the p...

Amisulpride, the newly introduced antipsychotic in India, is claimed to be effective in both positive and negative symptom schizophrenia and related disorders, though it has little or no action on serotonergic receptors. Limbic selectivity and lower striatal dopaminergic receptor binding capacity causes very low incidence of EPS. But, in clinical p...

Context: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disease with controversies regarding co-morbidities. Studies have noted there are some doubts due to the disease's heterogeneity and cultural influence. Some studies have reflected that women are more likely to have Major depressive disorder(MDD) as co-morbidity while the impact of gender on co-morbid gen...

Epidemiological surveys indicate that up to two thirds of children and adults with mental retardation has comorbid mental disorders; this rate is several times higher than that in the community samples of those not mentally retarded (1). Few studies have been employed to focus on the possible causes of the above findings. To investigate into the CT...

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a frequently encountered chronic metabolic disease with various complications throughout its course, which causes severe restriction and disability in an individual's life. It has been well documented that the incidence of depression is higher in diabetic patients and co-morbid depression causes further deterioration in th...

Prevalence of alcohol use in India is reported to be 21.4% and there is increasing alcohol intake among the young people. The present study was undertaken to study the socio-demographic characteristics of patients having alcohol-related disorders attending the de-addiction center at Burdwan Medical College in West Bengal and to find out some factor...

Adequate sexual expression is an essential part of many human relationships, and may enhance quality of life and provide a sense of physical, psychological, and social well-being. Epidemiological and clinical studies show that depression is associated with impairments of sexual function and satisfaction, even in untreated patients. Most antidepress...

Alcohol abuse is a known risk factor for suicide. Alcohol increases aggression and impulsivity, which are strongly related to suicidal behavior. Sociocultural factors influence both alcohol use and suicide rates. Studies, conducted in one population, are not applicable to other and the results cannot be generalized. The aim was to study the putativ...

For any given body mass, Asian Indians have higher central obesity than Europeans. A periodic measurement of body mass index (BMI) and waist hip ratio (WHR) is practically more feasible than other parameters of metabolic syndrome by repeated blood collection. However, few studies are available on the relative importance of BMI and WHR as markers of...