Undergraduate Education in Psychiatry in India

Medical education curricula, from around the world, have often neglected psychiatry as a subject of importance in undergraduate medical training.

In India, the scenario has not been different from the rest of the world. The National Mental Health Survey done in India, recently, estimates a treatment gap of around 80–85% for various mental illnesses. This provides a strong case to strengthen the undergraduate psychiatry curricula since it would help tackle the treatment gap of common mental disorders in the community.

Further, a strong educational foundation with meaningful inclusion of mental health and well-being, will also make the trainee aware of their own mental well-being and better help seeking behaviour in the medical student. In this article, we look to review the evolution of undergraduate medical education in India.