Treatment seeking among patients with mental illnesses during COVID-19: A retrospective chart review

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Published

2024-09-02

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Vol. 2 No. 01 (2024): Annals of Psychiatric Research

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Research article

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Copyright (c) 2024 Dr. Pankaj Mahal, Dr. Dheeraj Goya, Dr. Navratan Suthar, Dr. Mukesh Kumar Swami, Dr. Naresh Nebhinani

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors

  • Pankaj Mahal Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
  • Dheeraj Goya Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
  • Navratan Suthar Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
  • Mukesh K Swami Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
  • Naresh Nebhinani Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.

Abstract

Background: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed that patients with other health conditions were either ignored or unable to avail of specific health services. Mental health issues, especially common mental illnesses (CMI), rose sharply during this period worldwide. Hence, in the current study, we assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the profile of patients availing outpatient department services for psychiatric care as compared to pre-pandemic.

Method: In this retrospective study, we collected data from electronic health records of patients availing of in-person outpatient psychiatry department consultations at a tertiary care hospital. The Institutional Ethics Committee approved the study. Data was collected from August 2020 to January 2021 during COVID-19 and compared with the pre-COVID-19 period during the same month a year before.

Results: Most patients during COVID-19 were between 18 and 60. Patients living in urban settings and nearer (<10km) to the hospital presented more to OPD. There was an increase in the proportion of patients with psychotic or mood disorders, whereas those with CMI consulted less during COVID-19. Even though the elderly age group visited less during the COVID-19 period, those with psychotic symptoms consulted more.

Conclusion: Patients with CMI avoided going to the hospital or could not access healthcare services. COVID-19 had a significant impact on mental health, and it further widened the treatment gap for CMI. Modalities to address the relevant factors are the need of the hour.

Keywords: Common Mental Illnesses; COVID-19; mental health; OPD; Treatment Gap