Mental tension and stress are the curses of modern day living. Psychiatrists have come to play a vital role in alleviating this problem, afflicting a large numbers of city dwellers. The earlier concept that a person needing help from a psychiatrist is necessarily mad is fast disappearing. As a discipline psychiatry can be applied to various kinds of problems pertaining to the mentally retarded, those with various kinds of fears and phobias and persons with severe addiction problems.

Psychiatrist are gaining importance outside the hospitals also and nowadays large number of companies appoint psychiatrists for conducting counseling and therapy sessions for workers and dealing with their problems including those of mental health, absenteeism, drug addiction and alcoholism.

Educational Qualification:
After completion of MBBS, Doctors are eligible for the postgraduate degree (MD) and diploma courses (DPM) in Psychiatry. The MD course is of three years duration and DPM is of two years duration. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences, Bangalore Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi are among the well known institutes offering postgraduate and diploma courses.