Mental Health: It’s okay to not be okay
It’s okay to not be okay, but it’s not okay to stay silent
As a nation, we have progressed and achieved many things in the field of science and technology, but the perception of stigma towards mental health hasn’t changed in decades. Mental illness has become more precise such as depression, schizophrenia, personality disorders, trauma, anxiety, or even stress, for that matter, the medical treatment options are more advanced and innovative, but they are still wrongly understood, and their penalties are often hidden. In 2017, a World Health Organization (WHO) report projected that 20% of Indians are likely to suffer from mental illnesses like depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, and anxiety issues. “Yet it is on the increase, neurotic disorders affecting one in six adults at some point in their lives” (Birla, 2019). We are raised in a society where people with mental illnesses are often referred to as “crazies” or “lunatics.” A big part of the misinterpretation of mental illness is the barricade of stigma around mental health. Lack of awareness about mental illness, in general, is the principal reason for building the social stigma around this sensitive issue. India, as an evolving society, needs an appropriate response for a better tomorrow. Why is mental health still considered as a taboo in India? In terms of making therapy more accessible, what all can be done to break social stigmas around mental disorders? The only reason would be that its effects are “invisible” to a human eye, which is why people are having a problem in accepting it in larger picture. A countrywide awareness effort and stern government policy interventions can only offer credible solutions for this.
A 2016 study issued by NIMHANS, Bangalore, also found that about 14% of Indians already have mental ailments, and at least 10% of them need urgent medical help. Despite many faults in the health systems, only 0.05% of India’s annual health budget is allocated to mental health. Available data suggest that state spending in this regard is awful (Kaur, 2017). Anupriya Patel, former Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, has openly acknowledged in the Lok Sabha, that the number of psychiatrists per 10000 people in 2018 was ten times less than that in 2008. Major barriers to mental health service utilization include a deficiency and lack of implementation of state policy initiatives, lack of coordination at different levels within health systems, lack of mental healthcare resources and unequal distribution of skilled personnel, non-medical explanations of mental issues, socio-economic burden of mental illness treatment and many more (Tomlinson, 2012).
Since many years, mental illness has been seen as an ailment of a weak character, attention-grabbing behaviors, and a way of being against social customs. Like, many people with depression were told to “stop being like that,” or “if he’d only get a job or pass an exam, he wouldn’t be depressed.” Those with anxiety issues were seen as “weak” people who were advised to simply “calm down”, making their concerns ‘invisible’ (Ciampi, 2020). We are taught about preventive care, such as having proper healthy nutrition in our diet, the importance of being fit with regular exercise through gym or yoga or cardio, avoiding toxic elements in our bodies, and most importantly the value of stress reduction in work or personal life to maintain a healthy lifestyle. To be physically ill, friends, family, relatives, and even outsiders will put in an extra effort to help the sick person. But what about an individual suffering from a mental illness? Why is there a distinction between understanding a person who is physically ill and a person who is emotionally ill (Adelman, 2009)?
On a brighter side, recovery from these mental illnesses is possible for many individuals. This needs to be further accentuated to break the stigma and encourage more individuals to seek treatment. Starting from the basics, good mental health in children allows them to build the flexibility to cope with any challenge that life throws at them and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults. This can be accomplished through implementing strategies by public health professionals at schools, for supporting the staff and students frequently and above all, the families of the concerned students should be a part of creating a mentally healthy ecosystem (Galson, 2006). One more strategy to reduce the stigma around mental health is forming peer community networks having patients and common people so that they share their stories, listen and support each other and eventually make it “visible” (Heing, 2019).
“Conversations about depression, anxiety, addiction, and more have moved from the private to the public sphere. That’s not only important but effective, according to mental health experts” (Olivia Singh, 2019). It’s inspiring to see celebrities coming forward and sharing their concealed stories of mental battles in public space. Movie stars, singers, sportspersons, authors, and artists who are in the limelight and admired by millions of fans came ahead and shared the importance of being mentally healthy on public platforms. “On the surface, my life seemed pretty good, but I felt isolated and lonely” said James Franko during one of his TV interviews. Deepika Padukone opened about her phase of depression, terming it as darkest phases in her life during an interview with Hindustan Times in 2014. Even the King Khan of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, publicly spoke about his issues with depression for many months when he suffered a shoulder injury during shooting for one of his movies in the early stages of his career. Post traumatic stress disorder, is another type of mental illness that Tony Morrison has focused in her books wherein African Americans who have undergone migration, domestic abuse, racial discrimination and communal atrocities face the illness (Pribish, 2014). I believe that if people can develop compassion and open-mindedness for those who have mental illness, it can be a change to many erroneous mentalities, and possibly in the coming days, physical sickness and mental illness can be vocalized on the similar level.
On the other hand, the government should instruct the health insurance firms to include mental illness compulsorily under the sphere of life insurance coverage, which will change the perception of a common man to understand mental illness as seriously as physical health problems. On a national scale, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare can train the ASHA workers, to deepen the penetration of services and staff at the ground level through local clinics and health counseling centers in tier-1, tier-2, and tier-3 towns. Here, health workers can also guide women and children to reach the right expert in their neighborhood in case of help, besides educating them about mental health. Government campaigns like Swach Mansikta Abhiyan should be effectively taken into the masses for teaching them the importance of mental health and leading a stress-free life through state actors at a local level by allocating, approving, and streamlining the funding process for awareness programs (Llamba, 2020).
State intervention, public awareness, taking a stand and speaking up, availability of mental health professionals, proper policies, and campaigns are some of the most effective strategies to break the stigma around mental health. It is essential to accept that individuals with these issues too deserve to lead their lives with self-respect and assurance.
“At the root of this dilemma is the way we view mental health in this country. Whether an illness affects your heart, your leg or your brain, it’s still an illness and there should be no distinction.” — Michelle Obama
Read A fit(ting) rhetoric! by Shivani Sharma
Works Cited
1. Adelman, S. Howard. “Mental Health Matters”. Public Health Reports, 1 Mar. 2009.
2. Galson K. Steven. “Mental Health in Schools and Public Health”. Special Report on Child Mental Health, 1 May. 2006.
3. Heing, Bridey. “Why Storytelling Is at the Heart of Changing Attitudes About Mental Health”. Shondaland, 10 Jun. 2019, https://www.shondaland.com/live/body/a27820724/storytelling-mental-health/ Accessed 11 Apr. 2020.
4. Kaur R, Pathak RK. “Mental Health: Treatment Gap, Awareness, Language”. EPW Engage. 10 Oct. 2017, https://www.epw.in/engage/article/mental-health-language-awareness-and-treatment-gaps Accessed 2 May. 2020.
5. Ciampi C. Robert. “The “Invisibility” of Mental Illness”. Psychology Today. 8 Jan. 2020. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/when-call-therapist/202001/the-invisibility-mental-illness Accessed 2 May. 2020.
6. Tomlinson Mark. “Why Does Mental Health Not Get the Attention It Deserves? An Application of the Shiffman and Smith Framework”. PLOS Medicine. 28 Feb. 2012. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3289587/ Accessed 2 May. 2020.
7. Llamba, Ramon. “What India must do to solve its mental health crisis?”. ETHealthWorld. 26 Feb. 2020. https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/what-india-must-do-to-solve-its-mental-health-crisis/74314862 Accessed 2 May. 2020
8. Singh, Olivia. “35 celebrities who have opened up about their struggles with mental illness”. Insider. 25 May. 2019. https://www.insider.com/celebrities-depression-anxiety-mental-health-awareness-2017-11 Accessed 14 May. 2020
9. Pribish, Abby. “Recognizing Trauma, Expanding Treatment: Toni Morrison’s Portrayal of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Sula, Beloved, and Home”. Vanderbilt English Department Honors Theses. 16 Apr. 2014. https://ir.vanderbilt.edu/handle/1803/6425 Accessed 15 May. 2020
10. Birla, Neerja. “Mental health in India: 7.5% of country affected; less than 4,000 experts available”. Economic Times. 10 Oct. 2019. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/mental-health-in-india-7-5-of-country-affected-less-than-4000-experts-available/articleshow/71500130.cms?from=mdr Accessed 13 May. 2020
About the Author
Akhil Bharampuram comes from an interdisciplinary background of liberal arts, pharmaceutical sciences and experience in the field of business management. He is a project manager by day, and budding writer by night. Akhil is passionate about fitness, as he strongly opines a healthy lifestyle enhances mental well-being. As a Young India Fellow from Ashoka University, he believes that only by working on ourselves, we can go on to make a difference in the world.
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