Download [W5- poster lunch] An inpatient mother baby psychiatric unit in India

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Paper 1:
[W5- poster lunch] An inpatient
mother baby psychiatric unit in
India: A three year experience
Chandra, Prabha; Desai,
Geetha; Thippeswamy, Harish
05/10/2012 13:10:00 to
05/10/2012 14:10:00
W
The First inpatient Mother Baby unit in India to offer joint mother baby admission with specialized services was
started in Bangalore at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in July 2009. Till date the unit
has admitted 120 mother - infant dyads. The uniqueness of the unit is that in keeping with Indian cultural
traditions, each mother- infant dyad also has a family member admitted to enable care of the infant and the
mentally unwell mother. The family member is usually the mother, mother- in- law or occasionally the spouse.
The diagnostic distribution of the 103 cases is as followsMania or Depression with Psychotic symptoms -48(47%)
Acute polymorphic psychosis -30(29%)
Schizophrenia and other psychosis -9 (9%),
Depression -10(10%)
Others (Dissociation, Personality disorders, Bonding disorders, Obsessive compulsive disorders)-6(9%)
The age of infant ranged between few weeks to a year. The average duration of stay was three weeks. Infant
harm was observed in 25 mother infant dyads. The infant health problems included infection (21%), nutritional
problem (1%) and failure to gain weight (2%).
Forty two (35%) patients received ECT for suicidality, catatonia and excitement.
Some of the challenges faced in the unit included managing infant harm, infant health, restitution of breast
feeding, facilitating bonding, involving families in future treatment planning.
Satisfaction surveys indicated that the services were valued by the patients and the families.