The literature on hallucinations is reviewed, including its occurrence in different psychiatric disorders, neurological disorders and normal persons. The diagnostic significance of hallucinations is also discussed. Reports of hallucinations in normal people are reviewed. The different modes of the management of hallucinations are briefly discussed.

Background: Job stress has been linked to a wide range of adverse effects on mental, physical and organizational health. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the impact of job stress on mental, physical and social health of the underground construction workers in Sikkim. Materials and Methods: The study population comprised of tunnel workers and a comparable group of controls. Using the interview technique, data was collected using the SF-36 General Health Survey Questionnaire. Results: The study population comprised of individuals of whom more than half were below 40 years of age and was comparable to the group of controls. Majority reported good health, while poor health was reported by 22 % of the subjects under study Compared to their health status last year, 52% rated their health as somewhat worse. Majority reported that their physical health problems limited them in activities of daily life, viz., running, lifting heavy objects, participation in strenuous sports, climbing several flights of stairs, bending, stooping or kneeling and walking more than a mile, during the past four weeks. More than half of them had severe body ache in the past four weeks that interfered with both work outside home and housework. This was true for emotional problems also, which interfered with their normal social activities involving family, friends, neighbors or groups. The associations of occupational stress with physical, emotional and social life and with limitation of day-to-day activities among tunnel workers were found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: The results emphasize the importance of assessment of the effects of job stress and of fulfilling the need of underground workers for optimum preventive measures.

Background: Motivation of health workers is necessary to generate the organizational commitment towards the patients and the hospital and therefore the knowledge about what motivates and satisfies them is very essential.The aim of the project was to investigate and analyze the various factors that help in motivation of the health workers while performing their clinical duties in the hospital. Materials and Methods: A simple random study was conducted among 100 employees of our institute, which included doctors, staff nurses and paramedical staff. One hundred employees from Gian Sagar Institute were chosen randomly for the purpose of our study. All the employees were enquired by the questionnaire method as well as by individual interviews regarding the various motivating and demotivating factors at the work place. Detailed enquiries were performed regarding the various aspects concerning the job factors and work satisfaction. All the answers and findings were observed and recorded. Results: Statistical Analysis Used: Simple non-parametric tests like mean, percentages and chi square tests were employed to analyze the data.The demographic profile of all the employees showed only minor differences which were statistically non-significant. Skills, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback, environment, job security and compensation were observed to be the important factors for the motivation of employees. The depth and the extent to which these factors were studied at work in the hospital showed remarkable differences. Conclusion: All the factors studied in this project are essential basis for organizational commitment, but feedback represents the factor with the highest motivation potential especially among the younger population.

Background: Anomaly in hemispheric functioning has been linked with various psychiatric conditions. However, most of the procedures used to assess hemispheric asymmetry in clinical population require special training and/or complex procedures and some of the measures suffer from such methodological problems that undermine their utility for clinical use. Further, the available economical procedures such as chimeric face test (CFT) utilize facial expression of emotions posed by western expressers and are therefore less valid measures in Indian context. Aim: Taking these limitations into account, the present study makes an attempt to develop a CFT (using facial affect photographs of Indian expressers) as an alternative and economical procedure for the assessment of hemispheric asymmetry. Materials and Methods: Using the happy and neutral expressions of eight Indian expressers, 32 chimeric faces were developed by combining the half happy and half neutral expressions. These 32 chimeric faces were presented in pairs (arranged in top-bottom fashion) in booklet form to 225 right-handed participants. Using the contemporary item analytic procedure, finally 22 pairs of chimeric faces that showed satisfactory psychometric properties were retained. These 22 pairs of chimeric faces formed the final CFT. The psychometric properties of the various items as well as that of the whole CFT were found satisfactory. Results: All the items were found reliable and valid as indicated by item-total correlation and alpha-if-item deleted. The internal consistency of the CFT was also found to be highly satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha =.80). Further, the participants on the average showed a right hemispheric advantage on the CFT that provide support to its validity. The findings of intermediate analysis of the data of an ongoing project also provide preliminary evidence for the validity of the CFT. Conclusion : The CFT is a reliable and valid measure to assess hemispheric asymmetry in the processing of facial emotions and may prove to be an economical and useful tool in clinical setting.

Background: Emotional stability remains the central theme in personality studies. The concept of stable emotional behavior at any level is that which reflects the fruits of normal emotional development. The study aims at development of an emotional stability scale. Materials and Methods: Based on available literature the components of emotional stability were identified and 250 items were developed, covering each component. Two-stage elimination of items was carried out, i.e. through judges' opinions and item analysis. Results: Fifty items with highest 't' values covering 5 dimensions of emotional stability viz pessimism vs. optimism, anxiety vs. calm, aggression vs. tolerance., dependence vs. autonomy., apathy vs. empathy were retained in the final scale. Reliability as checked by Cronbach's alpha was .81 and by split half method it was .79. Content validity and construct validity were checked. Norms are given in the form of cumulative percentages. Conclusion: Based on the psychometric principles a 50 item, self-administered 5 point Lickert type rating scale was developed for measurement of emotional stability.

Background: Now a days, college students frequently have more complex problems than they used to have over a decade ago - greater difficulties in relationships; and more severe problems, such as depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide. Counseling helps students to understand themselves and the world around them, and to adjust themselves more efficiently and appropriately to other fellow beings. Aim: To determine as to what extent the medical students were able to cope up with their anxiety and depression with the help of counseling. Materials and Methods: In the experimental design 'Before-and -after with control design', Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory were administered to 120 medical students who were randomly selected from a private medical college, comprising of 30 males and 30 females in each of the two groups, viz., the experimental group and the control group. Statistical analysis: Means, standard deviations, t test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results: Anxiety and depression among the students were found to be reduced after counseling. Male and female students in the experimental group showed decrease in the levels of anxiety and depression; whereas the control group, which did not get the benefit of counseling, continued to have the same levels of anxiety and depression. Conclusion: Counseling is helpful in building self-confidence and the capacity to adjust, by reducing anxiety and depression among medical college students.

Background: The relationship between glucose metabolism and psychiatric illness is under the focus of clinicians for centuries. Depending on the definition used, the prevalence of depression among diabetics ranges from 8.5% to 32.5%, while that for anxiety disorders it is up to 30%. Aims and Objectives : To assess the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among diabetic patients using standardized rating scales for depression and anxiety. Materials and Methods: One hundred diagnosed patients of diabetes were assessed on the Hamilton rating scale for depression and the Hamilton rating scale for anxiety, who were attending the diabetic clinic. They were assessed on sociodemographic profile, duration of illness, type of treatment, and oral vs insulin, and then the data were analyzed on different domains. Results: About 84% of the patients had comorbid depression. Females showed a high percentage of depression and anxiety, and the severity level was also higher in the females. Genital symptoms were usually reported by the males, while somatic symptoms were more prevalent in the females.

Background: QOL (Quality of life) and Disability have been considered inevitable components of schizophrenia from the Biopsychosocial point of view. Studies from over the world have reported significantly lower levels of QOL and higher levels of disability in schizophrenia; but there are equivocal results revealing differences in levels of disability and QOL between genders in schizophrenia. Aim: To find out the difference in the levels of QOL and disability in both the genders in schizophrenia remission. Materials and Methods: This is cross-sectional study. Sixty patients who gave consent for their participation in the study and satisfying the criterion of remission of schizophrenia, in the age group of 18-60 years, were selected. A purposive sampling technique was used. There were 34 males and 26 females in the study sample. WHO-QOL-BREF ( World Health Organization, Quality of life BREF) and WHO-DAS (World Health Organization-Disability Assessment Schedule) were administered. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the levels of QOL and disability between the genders. Higher scores of WHO-QOL-BREF were seen in the male group, and higher scores of WHO-DAS were seen in the female group. Conclusion: Male group had better QOL, and the female group had higher disability.

A case of impulse control disorder was observed and managed. In this case, the serving soldier of the Indian army presented with explosive outbursts of extreme violence and anger, which was not clearly directed. Following this act of aggression, he would experience a sense of gratification and relief. The episodes were recurrent and resulted in assaults or destruction of property. The aggression displayed was out of proportion to any perceived provocation and the individual felt increasing tension or arousal before committing the act. He did not have any feelings of regret, remorse or guilt about the behavior.

Delirium tremens is recognized as a potentially fatal and debilitating complication of alcohol withdrawal. Use of sedatives, particularly benzodiazepines, is the cornerstone of therapy for delirium tremens. But sometimes, very heavy doses of benzodiazepines are required to control delirious symptoms. We are reporting one such case of delirium tremens, which required very heavy doses of benzodiazepines and was ultimately controlled by using infusion of propofol. Thus propofol should always be considered as an option to treat patients with resistant delirium tremens.

Research studies are usually carried out on sample of subjects rather than whole populations. The most challenging aspect of fieldwork is drawing a random sample from the target population to which the results of the study would be generalized. In actual practice, the task is so difficult that some sampling bias occurs in almost all studies to a lesser or greater degree. In order to assess the degree of this bias, the informed reader of medical literature should have some understanding of the population from which the sample was drawn. The ultimate decision on whether the results of a particular study can be generalized to a larger population depends on this understanding. The subsequent deliberations dwell on sampling strategies for different types of research and also a brief description of different sampling methods.