Recent developments in community mental health: Relevance and relationship with the mental health care bill

Community mental health refers to the treatment of persons with mental disorders in the community. In the earlier periods, treatment of patients with mental illness was limited to the mental hospitals or asylums. This paper traces the beginnings of community psychiatry in India from the time Dr. Vidya Sagar initiated his famous experiment of treating patients with mental illnesses along with family members in tents outside the mental hospital, Amritsar. It then discusses the role of the National Mental Health Program and the District Mental Health Program. The role of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability in leading onto the development of the current Mental Health Care Bill, 2013 is discussed. Authors critically evaluate some of the merits and drawbacks of the Bill as related to recent developments in community mental health in India.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-SA

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