Metabolic Syndrome and Psychiatric Practice: Clinical and Management Issues

Metabolic Syndrome (MS) is a commonly encountered clinical problem in Persons Living with Mental Illnesses (PLMI). Persons Living with Mental Illnesses have a preponderance to develop MS due to many factors. Various psychiatric disorders like Schizophrenia, Bipolar Affective Disorders, Unipolar Depression (Severe Mental Illnesses) are found to be associated with occurrence of MS, irrespective of treatment status. Metabolic abnormalities and MS may be a precursor to development of full-blown disorders like diabetes mellitus, hypertension and its associated complications at large. All the parameters of MS are not commonly studied; however weight gain is more commonly studied in PLMI population. There is a need felt to study further the occurrence of MS in PLMIs getting various psychotropics for its better understanding and management.