Mental Health Challenge in India: A perspective

 Mental Health Challenge in India: A perspective

Since 1990, there has been little indication that the impact of mental disorders on the world's health has decreased. As many as 197.3 million persons needed care for mental health disorders in 2017, according to an estimate of the burden of mental health conditions in the states of India. 

About 45.7 million of these had depressive illnesses, while 44.9 million had anxiety disorders. The Covid-19 pandemic has made the issue worse, making it a major global problem.

The increased difficulty in addressing mental health problems is made worse by a lack of knowledge and awareness, self-diagnosis, and stigma. 

It's critical to realise that the only way to identify the mental disease is to create screening benchmarks.

The idea that mental health just refers to the absence of mental illness must be urgently refuted. 

According to the World Health Organization, mental health is a condition of wellbeing marked by self-awareness, the ability to manage everyday stressors, effective employment, and community involvement.

In India, mental health literacy serves as the entry point for mental health therapies. Lack of awareness can cause others to ignore, misinterpret, or disregard the indications that someone needs assistance.

 Condescending, alienating, and stigmatising terms used concerning mental illness can have a significant psychological impact.

Sources of stress that are biological, social, psychological, inherited, and environmental combine to cause mental disease. 

The social determinants of health raise a person's chance of developing various physical and mental disorders as well as their likelihood of having poorer outcomes from those illnesses when they do arise.

A genome-wide linkage analysis that was published in the journal Nature estimated the heritability of depression to be around 40%. When biological twins with recurrent and severe major depression are taken into account, this rises to almost 70%. 

Therefore, social constructs and institutions including those based on gender, race, and ethnicity are to blame for mental health issues.

Slowly but surely, discussions and actions to address the problem of mental health care access and care have entered the mainstream. 

There is a need for multi-stakeholder interaction as this significant topic receives more attention to address the numerous challenges from all angles.

To obtain high-quality data that is necessary to comprehend the scope of the issue, careful mapping and investigation must be conducted. 

This should then be used to develop an all-encompassing strategy, supported by increased governmental commitment, scientific understanding, and a movement led by citizens.

According to NIMHANS data, more than 80% of Indians do not use healthcare facilities due to a variety of factors, including ignorance, stigma, and excessive costs. 

The actual issue could be more challenging, but progress has been made.