Psychiatric Morbidities Among Tribal School Going Students Attending Psychiatry Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital of North East India

Background: Psychiatric morbidity represents most important problem among all children including school going children and adolescent worldwide. Tribal mental health is almost neglected & never came in mainstream although India is home to the largest tribal populations of the world. So, there is a great need to investigate the problem behaviors among the tribal adolescent students. This study tries to nd out the pattern of different psychiatric disorders among tribal school going students attending psychiatry department of a tertiary care Hospital of state of Tripura in North East India. Methods: Psychiatric diagnosis was done by ICD-10 Diagnosis Criteria. Sociodemographic information was gathered as per prepared standard questionnaire. ICD 10 Diagnostic criteria for diagnosis of psychiatric illness and MINI Plus was used to assess the psychiatric morbidity among the 200 study subjects. Result: Most common psychiatric disorder in male tribal students was substance use disorder (61.3%) followed by mood disorders (28%), anxiety & panic disorder (21.3%), personality disorder (19.3%), dissociative disorder (16%) adjustment disorder (15.3%) & schizophrenia (5.3%). In case of Female tribal students most common psychiatric disorder found mood disorders (30%) followed by panic disorder & anxiety disorder (28%), substance use disorder (22%), dissociative disorder (20%), adjustment disorder (20%), personality disorder (18%) & schizophrenia (4%). Conclusion: No studies have been conducted to reect the scenario and pattern of psychiatric morbidities among tribal adolescent students in the state of Tripura. Our study shows the need of further researches on this topic for a better understanding of the mental health issues among the tribal adolescents which thereafter can help the families, schools and mental health system to take appropriate steps to prevent mental health problems and promote better mental and emotional health.