Scale to quantify mental illness on cards

Scale to quantify mental illness on cards
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

PUNE, JAN 12: The Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) is in the process of formulating a scale to quantify the disability of those affected with mental ailments. A process that will enable them to fight for their rights and benefits as enshrined under the Disability Act that was passed in 1996.

``There was a committee on amendments, formed in 1996. They mentioned that the mental illness should be retained under the act but with a lot more clarity,'' says Dr R Thara. As chairperson of the committee on formulating a scale for mental illnesses, Dr Thara is in the process of conducting field tests of the scale.

What the opponents of the inclusion were looking for is a quantification that could give the percentage of disability of afflicted persons. The IPS quickly went into top gear and came up with a scale after much deliberation in the following months.

It set four broad parameters to gauge a person's disability. ``Self care, social relationships, communication and the ability to work -- these were the four parameters that we set in the scale,'' says Dr Thara. These would decide the percentage of disability.

The disability would be notched from absent to mild, moderate, severe and profound. This in turn would be converted into a percentage to decide the extent of a patient's disability due to mental illnesses.

``This is still at a proposal stage and we are conducting extensive field testing,'' says Dr Thara. But this would give Indian psychiatrists to ensure that they had a tool in hand to press for the rights of those struck by mental ailments.