Comparison of depression, anxiety, general mental health and self-esteem among prisoners in consultancy and ordinary wings

The prison environment is a potential major stressful factor in formation or aggravation of mental problems so this study aimed to evaluate the mental health indexes among prisoners in consultancy and ordinary wings of Central Mashhad Jail. All of the prisoners in the ordinary and counseling wings of Mashhad Jail in 2012 comprise the statistical community of this descriptive study. 300 prisoners (equally number among prisoners who jail in ordinary and counseling wings) selected randomly. Research instruments include: Beck Depression Inventory-II, Beck Anxiety Inventory, General Health Questionnaire, Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory and Personal Characteristics Form. Data analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistic indexes (comparison of independent means, variants analysis and regression analysis) and SPSS software. The anxiety and depression levels are lower among counseling group significantly (P<0.001) and this group had higher levels of general mental health and self-esteem (P<0.001). Self-esteem was the only variable that had a positive relation with the type of crime. Inmates charged with theft and disorderly conduct had a higher level of self-esteem than others. According to the findings of the present study, it seems that the counseling interventions in jails can improve the mental health indexes such as depression, anxiety, general mental health and self-esteem among prisoners.