Mental Health in India

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Mental Health

In India, people don't talk about Mental Health a lot. It is still kind of a myth among people. Though according to WHO, India has one of the largest populations affected by mental health and named India 'the world's most depressing country', people's attitudes toward the issue aren't helping matters.

In India, People with mental illness are categorized by society as "lunatics." This adds to a destructive cycle of the patient's guilt, pain, and loneliness. Because of the shame associated with mental illness, families continue to keep those who show visible symptoms of mental illness hidden from public view.

This problem is seen more among young adults.

Due to common worries of lack of trust, peer pressure, a desire to be self-sufficient, and a lack of knowledge to understand mental health issues or awareness of mental-health-related services, young people do not seek assistance for mental health problems in India. Most of the time they don't even realize their need for help and blame themselves for the situation.

Mental health awareness should begin in school. Although adolescent mental health is a focus area for service development in the National Adolescent Health Program, school-based mental health service in India has largely remained restricted and fractured and is often neglected.
Mental illness is considered to be a major factor in one student committing suicide.

The majority of mental asylums in India are run to eliminate the patients rather than cure them. The fact that there is a significant shortage of physicians, clinical nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists in this area shows the lack of consideration given to this subject. According to the World Health Organization, India is experiencing a 200-300 percent shortfall of mental health professionals.

And the available mental health services are far too expensive for the majority of the population to afford.

It is past time for us to start making improvements. 

It's important to destigmatize mental illness and be willing to talk about it, rather than taking a defensive posture and looking for an escape path. 

It is important to remind yourself that mental illness is a medical condition that should not be combined with some form of self-blame, and that healing from it should be treated as a phase similar to recovering from any other physical illness.

To ensure better acceptability and awareness of mental health-related issues, we must all work together to develop an activated approach within society. Finally, we must be trained and educated about these issues to be ready with the necessary knowledge to recognize and encourage others.

“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.” – Glenn Close
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