Mental well-being needs to get centre stage in health management

It is time to talk about seeing a mental health professional as normally as we speak about seeing a doctor for a physical ailment

By Seema Kumar and Prachi Raturi

As journalists we often get beats to cover. From politics to education to health to lifestyle to crime to now even social media, we hear.

News and stories seem to be floating around, as always. But if there is something that has seen a rise, it is cases of mental health related deaths. Whose beat do they come under?

Crime, health, lifestyle, social media?

The answer isn’t easy if one thinks deeply.

Blowing the lid

Mental health is a bigger issue than what appears to be. It really is the tip of the iceberg. And if there is something in the past few years that has finally thrown some light on this tip, it is the Covid pandemic.

“One of the only few good things to come out of the Covid crisis was the fact that people of all ages finally understood/saw a mental health issue as a real thing and not just something that happens to other people,” like a psychologist told us in a meeting recently.

A study by the Indian Psychiatry Society in 2020 found that mental health issues increased by 20 per cent during the pandemic.

And if figures are anything to go by, mental health disorders aren’t as much of a ‘foreign concept’ as the uninitiated called it.

Sample this, according to the National Mental Health Survey (2015-16), around 150 million people in India need mental health care services, but fewer than 30 million are receiving any form of treatment.

Where we are

What do these numbers mean in terms of where we are?

Staring at a mental health treatment gap of a whopping 70 per cent.

In fact the World Health Organization (WHO) also talks about this critical shortage of mental health professionals. According to WHO, India has only 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, compared to the global average of 3 per 100,000.

And no unlike popular belief, mental health issues aren’t something only faced by the ‘rich and privileged’. If they were, we wouldn’t have had so many farmer suicides, students from small towns/cities chasing career dreams at Kota giving up on the precious lives they could have led.

Mental health care facilities are concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural populations with little to no access. Only 43 government-run mental health hospitals exist in India, and most of these are located in larger cities, leading to geographical barriers to care. 

In fact the approach to mental health problems in rural areas is worse because the common way of dealing with it is only ‘jhaad phoonk’. Everything is blamed on some evil spirit.

The only evil spirit however is our lack of awareness and this evil resides in cities and towns and all that will make it go away is awareness.

Little steps matter

While it is important to look at challenges, it is also important to look at the small but important changes.

The Indian education system has started to include mental health in its agenda. Schools are being encouraged to appoint counsellors, and universities are providing mental health support services. The University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2021 issued guidelines for colleges and universities to create a more supportive environment for students’ mental health, including dedicated helplines and counselling centres.

While the stigma around mental health persists, attitudes are slowly changing, especially among the younger generation. Celebrities, activists, and public figures have started talking more openly about their struggles with mental health, helping to destigmatise the issue. Campaigns like #ItsOkToTalk and #StopTheStigma have also been instrumental in raising awareness, particularly on social media platforms.

Finding the you

So how does one know one needs help?

Well life isn’t a bed of roses, a fact we all know. But if you have been finding everyday tasks challenging; moving on after the loss of a dear one, like a mountain; not finding joy in the little things of life; not wanting to step out of the house; feeling low most times, it is time to seek help.

Because believe us, seeking help isn’t a sign of weakness like it is often made out to be. In fact it is a sign of strength and awareness, of being respectful towards the precious gift of life.

What would you do, for example if you had an unbearable stomach pain, or a wound that needs attention?

Go see a doctor, right? And nobody would presume you are weak because you are seeking help and even if they did think that, would it stop you from seeking expert help? It wouldn’t, right?

You need to seek help because it is important, you need to heal to be functional.

Let that be no different when it comes to mental health and well-being. You need to heal to be functional and slowly get back in touch with the person you were. The one who felt joy at eating their favourite dish, the one who laughed at jokes, the one who loved meeting friends and family, the one who ran to get the whiff of the first rain, the one who had an appetite for love and life.

You, our dear friend, deserve to live a full life.

Seema Kumar, Editor-in-Chief and Prachi Raturi, Managing Editor are both co-founders of The Mind Diaries, a bi-monthly magazine on mental health and well-being