Publication:

Psychological distress among adult urban population of Puducherry

Background A large proportion of population in the community with psychological distress goes unnoticed. This study was done to assess the psychological distress among adult population of an urban area of Puducherry.

Methods The study was conducted among 569 individuals of age 18 years and above. Systematic random sampling method was used to select the households in the study area and from each household one adult was randomly selected. The General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) was used to assess the psychological distress among the study participants.

Results Majority of the participants had low psychological distress (60.5%) followed by typical (19.3%), more than typical (10%), evidence of psychological distress (6.2%) & severe distress (4%). One-fifth (20.2%) of the participants had psychological distress which needs attention. The mental health status of the participants was significantly associated with the age, sex, marital status, religion and education (p<0.05).

Conclusions The psychological distress is a major public health problem in the study population. Focused interventions to improve the mental health of population are required to decrease the mental distress in the community.