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Volume 62, Number 5 September-October 2020

Indian Journal of Psychiatry • Volume 62 • Issue 5 • September-October 2020 • Pages ***-***

EDITORIAL Mahadev Singh Sen, Ritu Nehra, Sandeep Grover 544

The need for routine psychiatric assessment of COVID-19 survivors BRIEF RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
Om Prakash Singh 457 Association between depression, anxiety and quality of life
GUEST EDITORIAL among patients with diabetes mellitus and/or hypertension in
a tertiary care railway hospital in India: A cross-sectional study
Building resilience in the COVID-19 era: Three paths in the
Rajeev Ranjan, Santanu Nath, Siddharth Sarkar 555
Bhagavad Gita
Matcheri S. Keshavan 459 Mentalizing self and others: A controlled study investigating
the relationship between alexithymia and theory of mind in major
REVIEW ARTICLE (INVITED) depressive disorder
A systematic review of personality temperament models related to Onur Durmaz, Hayriye Baykan 559
somatoform disorder with main focus on meta-analysis of Depression prevalence, its psychosocial and clinical
Cloninger's theory components
predictors, in diabetes mellitus patients attending two health
Farzin Rezaei, Azad Hemmati, Khaled Rahmani, Saeid Komasi 462 institutions of north India catering rural population
TILAK VENKOBA RAO ORATION AWARD 2020 Jyoti Gupta, Dheeraj Kapoor, Vivek Sood, Sukhjit Singh,
The social neuroscience of psychosis: From neurobiology to Neeraj Sharma, Pankaj Kanwar 566
neurotherapeutics Transcranial direct current stimulation for refractory auditory
Urvakhsh Meherwan Mehta 470 hallucinations in schizophrenia: Acute and 1 6-week outcomes
ACCELERATED RESEARCH Pattath Narayanan Suresh Kumar, Arun Gopala Krishnan,
Rohith Suresh, Chittaranjan Andrade 572
Information overload regarding COVID-19: Adaptation and
validation of the cancer information overload scale Assessment of lithium-related knowledge and attitudes
among patients with bipolar disorder on long-term lithium
Sujit Sarkhel, Ajay Kumar Bakhla, Samir Kumar Praharaj,
Malay Kumar Ghosal 481
maintenance treatment
Saurabh Kumar, Swarndeep Singh, Pankaj Mahal,
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on the state Anuranjan Vishwakarma, Raman Deep 577
of mental health services in the private sector in India
Sandeep Grover, Aseem Mehra, Swapnajeet Sahoo, Ajit Avasthi, VIEWPOINT
Adarsh Tripathi, Avinash D'Souza, Gautam Saha, A Jagadhisha, Electroconvulsive therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic
Mahesh Gowda, Mrugesh Vaishnav, Omprakash Singh, Sandeep Grover, Preeti Sinha, Swapnajeet Sahoo,
PK Dalal, Parmod Kumar 488 Shyamsundar Arumugham, Sachin Baliga, Subho Chakrabarti,
ORIGINAL ARTICLES Jagadisha Thirthalli 582
Evaluation of sympathetic sudomotor responses to auditory CASE SERIES
stimuli in children with autism spectrum disorders Menstrual psychosis: A not so forgotten reality
Remya Bharath, Shailaja S. Moodithaya, Harsha Halahalli, Rajashree Ray, Imon Paul 585
Shrinivasa Bhat Undaru, Suchetha Kumari Nallilu,
Amrit M. Mirajkar 494 CASE REPORT
Adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders and its correlates Biofeedback intervention during the pregnancy for the
in patients with opioid dependence: An exploratory study treatment of anxiety disorder: A case report and review of
Snehil Gupta, Gayatri Bhatia, Siddharth Sarkar,
literature
Biswadip Chatterjee, Yatan Pal Singh Balhara, Anju Dhawan 501 Aseem Mehra, Sandeep Grover 588
Prevalence and correlates of body dissatisfaction and LETTERS TO EDITOR
disordered eating patterns in Indian youth: The role of media COVID-19: Survey of doctors
Soumya Singh, Padmaja Gadiraju 509 Nitasha Sharma, Abha Bang Soni, Chittaranjan Andrade 591
Prevalence and risk factors associated with substance use Psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdown: An online
in children: A questionnaire-based survey in two cities of survey from India: Few concerns
Uttar Pradesh, India Avinash Shukla 591
Raj Narain, Sarita Sardana, Sanjay Gupta 517 Comment on psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdown:
The difference in sleep, depression, anxiety, and Internet An online survey from India
addiction between Korean adolescents with different circadian Gurvinder Pal Singh 593
preference
Accelerated research for COVID-19: Methodological
Jun-Soo Chung, Eunhye Choi, Ah Reum Lee, Shin-Young Kim, ruminations for internet-based research
Kina Lee, Bung-Nyun Kim, Subin Park, Kyu-In Jung,
Seung-Yup Lee, Min-Hyeon Park 524 Anindya Das 594
Prevalence and correlates of bullying perpetration and Recurrent, progressive ventricular tachycardia after
victimization among school-going adolescents in Chandigarh, electroconvulsive therapy
North India Nikhil Avula, Devavrat Harshe, Gurudas Harshe 595
Monica Rana, Madhu Gupta, Prahbhjot Malhi, Sandeep Grover, Association of recurrent ventricular tachycardia with
Manmeet Kaur 531 electroconvulsive therapy
Beneficial aspects of autism stemming from enhanced Sandeep Grover, Shivali Aggarwal 596
visuospatial skills: Result from a comparative study in India Acute stress reaction related to use of personal protective
Soumen Karmakar, Sharmila Sarkar 540 equipment in health-care workers
Social cognition in patients with first episode of psychosis in Devakshi Dua, Raj Laxmi, Aseem Mehra, Swapnajeet Sahoo,
remission Sandeep Grover 598
 Letters to Editor
7. Rachman SJ. Invited essay: Cognitive influences on the psychological
immune system. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2016;53:2‑8.
8. Bhardwaj AK, Agrawal G. Concept and applications of
psycho‑immunity (defense against mental illness): Importance in mental
health scenario. Online J Multidisciplinary Res 2015;1:6‑15.
This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 4.0 License,
which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‑commercially,
as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under
the identical terms.
Educational concerns of children with disabilities during COVID‑19
pandemic
Sir,
COVID‑19 has significantly affected the education of children
worldwide. However, the major sector of the population
which has been excluded in this regard is children with
disabilities. While online learning quickly became the
default solution globally because of school closures, it was
not the most accessible choice for the nearly 29% of students
in India currently with disabilities.[1] Looking at the situation
and needs of children with disabilities, it is also difficult to
say whether we should teach them online or not and if yes
how. Children with disabilities have different learning rate,
memory, and retention than regular children.[2] Further,
often, they are accustomed to structured schedules and
learning environments. The sudden unwarranted alterations
in the learning process during the lockdown thus have
increased the burden on the child as well as their parents.
While recently released Comprehensive Disability Inclusive
Guidelines for protection and safety of persons with
disabilities during COVID‑19 discusses providing critical
facilities and assistance to people with disabilities, it has not
taken into consideration the educational needs of children
with disabilities.[3] There are no provisions laid to ensure
any kind of distance, open, or home‑based education for
children. The pandemic thus calls for a solution which will
enable the inclusion of all children by building a common
base of education through technology‑based learning.
The crisis appears to rely heavily on technology for meeting
educational needs. While this might be a good option for
some developed country, these tools are not accessible
to most learners with disabilities in India, especially to
those with complex learning needs, those with poor
Indian Journal of Psychiatry Volume 62, Issue 5, September-October 2020
Access this article online
Quick Response Code
Website:
www.indianjpsychiatry.org
DOI:
10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_420_20
How to cite this article: Gupta T, Nebhinani N. Let’s build
the psychological immunity to fight against COVID‑19. Indian
J Psychiatry 2020;62:601-3.
© 2020 Indian Journal of Psychiatry | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
households, and those in remote areas. Further, tools such
as online learning portals may lack the basic and necessary
accessibility features to make them usable for children with
disabilities.
Limited internet access may equally hinder the learning
process.[4] In addition, children with special needs are
sensitive to changes in routine and need a teacher or
significant people support to work and learn independently
through technology. Another important hurdle is that most
teachers, because of their lack of ICT skills and knowledge,
are not ready for online teaching ensuring engagement of
the student, especially those with disabilities.[5] Currently,
no data is available on digital skills of special education
teachers’ in India.
Children with disabilities need extra support, an
individualized approach, and modified lessons to continue
learning at home. In addition, the online learning system
should focus on removing obstacles to focus for students with
attention‑deficit disorder/attention‑deficit hyperactivity
disorder; audio elements should provide subtitle for those
who have hearing deficits, improve accessibility to text
for learning disabilities, provide e‑learning materials in
different languages, and cater to the memory impairment.[6]
It is the communal responsibility of governments, teachers,
parents, and caregivers to lessen the educational disparity
students with disabilities are facing, notably in times of
catastrophe like the COVID‑19 pandemic. The conditions
that affect access to education including policy, legislation,
finance, human resources, and data should be explored at
earliest to guarantee the delivery of systematic and long-
603
 Letters to Editor
term solutions. There should be uniform guidelines on how
to provide education to such students in a virtual network
setting. The COVID-19 presents an opportunity to reflect on
how we can plan educational system of the country to be
inclusive of children with disabilities.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
Hemangi Narayan Narvekar
NIMHANS Digital Academy, National Institute of Mental
Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
E‑mail: narvekar.hem19@gmail.com
Submitted: 29-May-2020, Accepted: 08-Jul-2020,
Published: 10-Oct-2020
REFERENCES
1. Disability Statistics, Data and Facts in India; 2017. Available from: https://
wecapable.com/disability‑statistics‑data‑facts‑india‑infographic/. [Last
accessed on 2020 May 28].
2. How COVID‑19 is Impacting Education of Children with Special
Needs; 2020. Available from: https://www.indiatvnews.com/
lifestyle/news‑how‑covid‑19‑is‑impacting‑education‑of‑children‑
with‑special‑needs‑605199. [Last accessed on 2020 May 28].
3. Pandey  P, Srivastava  S. Excluding the Excluded: India’s Response
to the Education of Children with Disabilities during COVID‑19; 2020.
Available from: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/
excluding‑the‑excluded‑indias‑response‑to‑the‑education‑of‑children‑
Multiple suicide attempts in an individual with opioid dependence:
Unintended harm of lockdown during the COVID‑19 outbreak?
Sir,
Coronavirus disease‑19 (COVID‑19) was declared a pandemic
by the WHO on March 11, 2020.[1] To contain the spread, a
nationwide lockdown was enforced in India on 24 March.
Since the lockdown, there is a suspension of routine
outpatient care and restricted movement, limiting access
to psychiatric treatment. The revised telemedicine practice
guideline approved online prescription of psychotropics
(including benzodiazepines).[2] However, the guideline
does not permit online prescription of buprenorphine
or methadone, which are controlled substances in India.
Therefore, individuals on opioid agonist treatment are
likely to be disproportionately affected.
Here, we reported multiple suicide attempts in an
individual on buprenorphine‑naloxone‑based agonist
treatment, in the absence of any other psychiatric
comorbidity.
604
with‑disabilities‑during‑covid‑19/. [Last accessed on 2020 May 28].
4. McClain‑Nhlapo  C. An Inclusive Response to COVID‑19:
Education for Children with Disabilities; 2020. Available from:
h t t p s : / / w w w. g l o b a l p a r t n e r s h i p . o r g / b l o g / i n c l u s i v e ‑ r e s p o n s e ‑
covid‑19‑education‑children‑disabilities. [Last accessed on 2020 May 28].
5. Empowering Students with Disabilities during the COVID‑19
Crisis; 2020. Available from: https://bangkok.unesco.org/content/
empowering‑students‑disabilities‑during‑covid‑19‑crisis. [Last accessed
on 2020 May 28].
6. Shearer J. How to Make Online Learning Accessible for People
with Special Needs; 2019. Available from: https://blog.learnfasthq.
com/how‑to‑improve‑accessibility‑to‑online‑learning‑for‑
people‑with‑special‑needs. [Last accessed on 2020 May 29].
This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 4.0 License,
which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‑commercially,
as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under
the identical terms.
Access this article online
Quick Response Code
Website:
www.indianjpsychiatry.org
DOI:
10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_585_20
How to cite this article: Narvekar HN. Educational concerns
of children with disabilities during COVID‑19 pandemic.
Indian J Psychiatry 2020;62:603-4.
© 2020 Indian Journal of Psychiatry | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
A 26‑year‑old  male with heroin and tobacco dependence
was on treatment from our addiction psychiatry clinic since
October 2019. He had impulsive and dissocial traits. He
was started on buprenorphine‑based agonist treatment
in November 2019. For the initial 2 months, he was not
adherent to treatment. Since February 2020, his dose of
buprenorphine‑naloxone was increased (from 4 mg to
6 mg), leading to better control of craving and improved
adherence. On March 18th follow‑up, his abstinence was
confirmed by negative urine screen for morphine. As per
our treatment protocol, he was prescribed take‑away
buprenorphine for a week. However, the nationwide
lockdown, starting from March 24th led to immediate
suspension of public conveyance, sealing of state borders
and suspension of his daily income, due to which he was
unable to attend for follow‑up on next scheduled date.
Unable to procure buprenorphine from any other sources
he suffered from intense craving and withdrawal. On the
3rd day, while experiencing unbearable pain, he found a
Indian Journal of Psychiatry Volume 62, Issue 5, September-October 2020