World Mental Health Day: India in Crisis
Today is World Mental Health Day, observed on Oct. 10 every year since 1992. The overall objective here is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilize efforts in the support of mental health. The Day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide.
This year, the theme of the occasion is Young people and mental health in a changing world. This theme focuses on adolescents and the mental health problems that they deal with. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is now a growing recognition of importance of helping young people build mental resilience at an early age. This helps adolescents cope with challenges of today’s world in a better way.
When we come down with a cold, most of us don’t hesitate to pop a pill or visit the doctor. But if we can’t seem to shake our endless worries or that nagging sense of hopelessness, we plug along as though nothing is wrong. It is of course common to treat acommon cold or other serious physical health issues like cancer.
But what about mental illness? Do people treat it like the do their own physical well-being and seek out help?
The answer unfortunately is no.
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Chances are you know someone who is or has dealt with mental illness and recovery, or know of someone who is going through the process of dealing with some sort of anxiety, depression, addiction or eating disorder.
Approximately 20 per cent of the world’s youth have mental disorders or problems and about half of them develop disorders before the age of 14 according to the WHO, mental disorders and addiction contribute to many suicides around the world each day, and about 800,000 people commit suicide each year.
And India is standing on the threshold of a mental health epidemic with a greater number of people affected by mental health issues in the country than the entire population of Japan.
According to 2015–16 National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) survey, every sixth person in India needs mental-health help.
In India, the suicide rate in India in 2015 at 15.7/100,000 is higher than the global average of 10.6. Suicide is the leading cause of death among those aged 15–29 in India.
To compound the problem, India has only 5000 psychiatrists and less than 2000 clinical psychologists.
These are shocking stats, and it stands to reason that something that many structural issues need to be widely addressed and acted upon when it comes to awareness and treatment.
According to the NMHS survey, people in the lower income group suffer more from mental health problems and these are the people with least access to mental health treatment. Poverty, domestic violence, alcohol and drug addiction and the very stigma of being underprivileged takes a toll on these people.
What is India in desperate need of when it comes to mental health?
a. Acceptance of mental health
b. Increasing our knowledge base and awareness of mental disorders
c. Increase our number of mental health professionals
d. State-of-the-art rehabilitation centres for people suffering from substance abuse
e. More mental health hospitals for psychiatric patients
f. Mental Health First Aid officers in communities, schools, colleges, and organisations. These members will need to be trained and certified to handle mental health emergency situations like meltdowns and suicide prevention.
g. Awareness of treatment options available to treat mental disorders
h. Education of the poor about the importance of mental health.
i. Make quality care and treatment easily available and accessible to everyone.
Mental health is a global public good. Our re-framing of mental health is aligned with the central principle to “leave no one behind” and to the contemporary notions of human capabilities and capital. We believe both in the inherent right of every person to mental health, and that mental health is a means of facilitating sustainable socio-economic development, more complete health, and a more equitable world.
What You Can Do
1.Start moving: One reason to take care of your mental health is because it leads to better physical health. Your body performs best when you’re in good physical health. So start exercising if you don’t do so already.
2. Prioritize rest and sleep: Sleep hygiene techniques aim to improve sleep quality and help treat insomnia. They including adjusting caffeine use, limiting exposure to the bed (regulating your sleep time and having a limited time to sleep), and making sure you get up at a similar time in the morning.
3. Enjoy your life more: Just as physical fitness helps our bodies to stay strong, mental fitness helps us to achieve and sustain a state of good mental health. When we are mentally healthy, we enjoy our life and environment, and the people in it. We can be creative, learn, pick up new hobbies, and take risks — and consequently, we are better able to cope with difficult times in our personal and professional lives.
4. Don’t neglect your diet: A new study by the UK’s Mental Health Foundation suggests that a poor diet has played a role in the significant increase in mental health problems over the past 50 years. Our diet also supplies the vitamins which our bodies cannot create, and which we need to help speed up the chemical processes that we need for survival and brain function. Vitamin deficiencies sometimes manifest themselves as depression and can cause mood swings, anxiety and agitation, as well as a host of physical problems.
5. Reach out when you need help: Positive lifestyle changes aren’t a replacement for medication or psychological therapy but, rather, as something people can undertake themselves on top of their treatment.
If you are affected by depression there are a number of helplines across India that renders support to people who are looking for assistance and help. Here are some that one can reach out to, in times of need:
iCALL: 022 25521111
Vandravela Foundation: 1860 2662345
Lifeline: 033 24637401
Sneha: 044 24640050
Sumaitri: 011 23389090
Parivarthan: 91 7676602602
Sahai: 080 25497777
Watch this video below on Bollywood actress and major youth influencer Deepika Padukone’s long struggle with depression, and her social work in reducing the stigma attached with mental health issues.
Ketto & Mental Health
Since its inception, Ketto has been a strong advocate of spreading awareness of mental health issues in India and helping people discover they are not alone in their plight. Click on the links below to view crowdfunding projects we have been involved with for mental health causes. If you feel inspired, you can start your own project with us as well.
Ketto Blog remains committed to inspiring and compelling social change to India’s most pressing problems through the power of great stories and engaging our audiences to take meaningful action.
