Author's response.

Thank you for comments on our article1 which are very informative and rightly indicate some of the limitations of the study. As written in the abstract the questionnaire was based mainly on the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines. In brief, the questionnaire was designed on the basis of ICMR guidelines2 regarding informed consent and confidentiality. The authors and research staff in the department of Psychiatry of our hospital employed a discussion process and achieved consensus regarding question content. The content experts are actively engaged in mental health care and research, and regularly use the ICMR guidelines in their professional practice. Three of them are members of institutional ethics committees.