Geriatric Psychiatry in South Asia: Current Status and Ways Ahead (South Asian Perspectives in Mental Health and Psychology)

This book is about the current status and ways ahead of geriatric psychiatry in South Asia. South Asia is home to a large proportion of the world’s elderly. With improved longevity, the geriatric population is increasing fast in recent years in South Asian countries. Along with this, the mental health burden of the older adults is increasing. However, mental health care of older adults in South Asia is a neglected area. Little is known about the burden of mental disorders and available mental health services specific for the older adults population in South Asia and other low and middle income countries.

It is well known that resources are fewer in this region, and most of the older adults in these areas are not recognized or treated. There is a urgent need to explore the services available, their appropriateness and effectiveness, and to reflect on the region-specific, economically viable solutions that can be adapted soon. The book discusses how these services can be seamlessly integrated to the existing support systems. Besides the interventional aspects, the book also explores the facilitating and impeding factors of implementing evidence-based preventive efforts in these countries.

Prof. Nilamadhab Kar, MD, DNB, DPM, FRCPsych is a consultant psychiatrist in the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Wolverhampton, UK. He is the college tutor for undergraduate and postgraduate psychiatry training and the lead for the International Clinical Fellowship Programme in Psychiatry for the trust. He is a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, and is a visiting honorary professor in the Faculty of Contemplative and Behavioral Sciences, at the Sri Sri University, India. His research contributions have been in the fields of geriatric psychiatry, stress-related mental health disorders, preventive psychiatry, disaster mental health, clinical psychopharmacology, and quality of life. Besides journal articles and book chapters, he has written and edited a few medical books which include Handbook of Dementia, Comprehensive Textbook of Sexual Medicine and Handbook for Disaster Workers. 

Dr. Sujita Kumar Kar is currently working as an additional professor of Psychiatry at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is the editor-in-chief of Indian Journal of Health, Sexuality, and Culture. He is also an editorial board member and reviewer of various national and international journals. He had written 80 book chapters and more than 520 articles in various national and international journals and made 75 presentations at various national and international conferences. He has been included in the global 2% researcher list released by Stanford University in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. His research interests include brain stimulation, neuropsychiatry, and suicide prevention. 

Dr. S M Yasir Arafat is currently working as an associate consultant of Psychiatry at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is affiliated with Dnet as an honorary Research Fellow and Biomedical Research Foundation, Bangladesh as a senior research fellow. He was affiliated with the University of Bristol, UK, as a visiting senior research associate, (August 2021–2023). He completed MD in Psychiatry from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka and MBBS from the Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He also did an MPH in Health Economics and MBA in Marketing. Dr. Arafat has (co)authored more than 350 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and (co)edited several books with Springer. He has been included in the global 2% researcher list in 2021, 2022, and 2023. He is acting as an editorial member in more than ten leading journals in mental health published by Elsevier, Frontiers, Wiley, Springer, and Taylor and Francis.