Mental Handicap Among Rural Indian Children

"In view of the paucity of research in the area, the epidemiological study reported in the monograph by Professor Anima Sen is a welcome attempt and is commendable.... The analysis of data has been reported in minute detail. The correlational analysis and factor analysis of the data reveal interesting patters of relationships among different variables for normal and retarded children. These results serve as a springboard for generating a wealth of hypotheses for futher research." --Indian Psychological Abstracts and Reviews "This book, packed with invaluable information, facts and figures, is a comprehensive report of a survey of mentally handicapped children in the villages around New Delhi, the capital of India. . . . There is a proverbial 'Indian gold mine' in the reference section of the book which every 'prospector' in the field would feel obligated to treasure; a list of excellent references related to studies in India is hard to come by. . . . We have no hesitation in recommending this book, a classic in its own right, to academic departments of developmental psychiatry and psychology, social sciences and, in particular, to health and social service planners in developing countries. Perhaps every academic specialising in studies related to children and their development should read it to gain a glimpse of the problems encountered by developmentally disabled children in developing countries." --British Journal of Learning Disabilities Statistics indicate that the proportion of mentally handicapped persons in India is alarmingly high. Based on a path-breaking study of nearly 13,000 children living in the villages around Delhi, Medical Handicap Among Rural Indian Children reveals the ecological factors influencing children's mental development. This volume also identifies important psycho-social factors associated with mental handicap such as nutritional status, parenting, and the mothers' educational levels. The author makes important suggestions for possible intervention strategies for the prevention and amelioration of mental handicap in India and highlights specific roles that can be played out by all concerned with this problem; namely, the family, the community, voluntary agencies, and policy makers. The first study of its kind, Mental Handicap Among Rural Indian Children will be of immense value to psychologists, social workers, government officials, scholars of cultural studies, and all those involved with child development and mental retardation.

Written by an international team of young scholars, 'Rural India Facing the 21st Century' draws together a profound analysis of a broad range of issues to provide a masterly overview of overall rural development. Its highly original methodology and findings will be of considerable interest for development policy.

The media has a close relationship with socio-cultural and political systems in today’s society. This relationship both offers the potential to tackle the various challenges associated with inequality and, at the same time, creates a nexus with the elite classes of society to keep the marginalized away from the mainstream. This complex relationship between the media, state and the marginalized becomes more complex and interesting in the Indian context, where we find diversity not only in groups and communities, but also in power-relations. This book, containing twenty-one chapters and an editorial introduction, thus, deals with Indian perspectives in relation to the media, the state and the marginalized sections of society. This book will be of interest to academics, scholars and students of social sciences, especially in the fields of media studies, political science and sociology. It will also be useful for the people working in the media industry.

Psychology in India Volume 3: Clinical and Health Psychology is part of the periodic surveys in the major disciplines of the social sciences to assess disciplinary developments and to identify gaps in research conducted by The Indian Council of Social Science Research. This volume comprises six original essays. It deals with the broad domain of disciplinary developments in the areas of clinical psychology and health psychology and explains developments, applications, analysis; psychology; geropsychology in India and the significant trends.

Brain disordersâ€"neurological, psychiatric, and developmentalâ€"now affect at least 250 million people in the developing world, and this number is expected to rise as life expectancy increases. Yet public and private health systems in developing countries have paid relatively little attention to brain disorders. The negative attitudes, prejudice, and stigma that often surround many of these disorders have contributed to this neglect. Lacking proper diagnosis and treatment, millions of individual lives are lost to disability and death. Such conditions exact both personal and economic costs on families, communities, and nations. The report describes the causes and risk factors associated with brain disorders. It focuses on six representative brain disorders that are prevalent in developing countries: developmental disabilities, epilepsy, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and stroke. The report makes detailed recommendations of ways to reduce the toll exacted by these six disorders. In broader strokes, the report also proposes six major strategies toward reducing the overall burden of brain disorders in the developing world.

Intellectual disability is a lifelong condition involving deficits in both intellectual and adaptive functioning. Individuals with intellectual disability experience a greater burden of co-occurring physical and mental illness compared to the general population, and often need a significant degree of support from healthcare professionals and carers, as well as family and friends. Additionally, their lives can be greatly influenced both positively and negatively by the cultures in which they exist, including societal attitudes, belief systems and norms. An insightful addition to the Oxford Cultural Psychiatry series, Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability across Cultures explores the health, support structures, and societal attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities throughout the world. Written by international experts of intellectual disability and mental health, this comprehensive textbook covers broad topics such as anthropology, mental health, physical health, research, and sexuality. It also comprises chapters dedicated to specific geographic regions, such as Africa, America, Australasia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom and Ireland.