The social and psychological correlates of leprosy.

Leprosy, one of the most chronic tropical diseases, acts as a unique psychosocial stressor for the social stigma associated with it. The present study assessed the nature of such stigma and its possible effect on the patient's mental health. Leprosy patients perceive that (a) their illness evokes public fear and hate, (b) it is degrading and humiliating and they should be segregated from family and society and (c) it is incurable and a consequence of sin. Psychiatric morbidity is commoner among the in-patients (64%) than among the out-patients (25%).