Background: Marriages of women with mental illness poses a serious problem both for the women, her family and the prospective groom and his family. Often to cover up for the deficiency in women, parents offer a handsome dowry and stridhan to glamourize the marriage proposal. Objective: The present study was undertaken to find out whether more dowry is given, more demands of dowry after marriage are made in the marriage of patients suffering from mental illness (psychosis) as compared to those without mental illness. Also to find out whether more women with mental illness are denied of their stridhan after marriage compared to women without mental illness Materials and methods: The present study was conducted on 90 subjects from psychiatry OPD of the University Hospital, BHU, Varanasi fromDecember 2010 to July 2012. 60 patients diagnosed as having psychosis and 30 healthy controls were included in the study. All subjects were assessed on schedule of dowry and stridhan which included dowry expected, dowry demanded, dowry offered and dowry given as well as the whereabouts of Stridhan Observations and results: Significantly more dowry was offered and given in the marriages of patients with psychotic illness (p<0.05). More demands of dowry after marriage were made in the marriage of patients with mental illness (psychosis) as compared to those without mental illness. Significantly more patients reported that Stridhan was with in-laws despite non consent in the marriages of patients with psychotic illness as compared to those without Conclusion: More dowry is given as well as demanded after marriage in the marriage of patients with mental illness (psychosis) as compared to those without. More women with mental illness are denied of their Stridhan after marriage compared to women without mental illness
