Symptoms of psychological distress reported by women from indigenous communities in South India: implications for methodology and future studies.

'Indigenous peoples' across the globe suffer a disproportionate burden of mental illness. However, this burden is not fully explored in India despite having the second largest absolute concentration of indigenous peoples in the world. We did a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional survey in indigenous populations from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in South India. Symptoms suggestive of psychological distress were reported by 39.9% participants. Being alone, tobacco use, hypertension, hypertension in family member, and violent conflict in household were independently associated with psychological distress. More epidemiological studies need to be conducted to map the burden and elaborate the relationships between mental health problems and socio-cultural factors in indigenous populations in India.