India, with its rich and distinct socio-cultural heritage, bestow diverse impact over individual symptom complexes, coloring the picture and causing wide variation in presentation and prognosis of psychiatric illnesses. With the widespread use of atheoretical categorical diagnostic systems such as DSM-IV, ICD-10, etc. and success of psychopharmacological treatment approach, psychiatrists in developing and underdeveloped countries have tended to overlook the role of psycho-social and cultural factors and their interplay with neurobiological factors in governing illness patterns, and are reluctant initiators of non-pharmacological treatment measures.

The study aims to descriptively analyze and compare the use of pharmacological to non-pharmacological intervention initiation in outpatients in a general hospital setting.

The study sample will comprise of consecutive patients referred to psychiatry outpatient department from February to July 2009. The socio-demographic and clinical profile will be analyzed using a semi-structured proforma and diagnosis will be made as per ICD-10-DCR. An analysis of pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention initiation will be made and compared. Descriptive statistical analysis for continuous and categorical variables will be done as needed.

The study is currently been undertaken and the results and conclusion will be presented at the conference.