As per a report released by Practo, an integrated healthcare company, 60 per cent of the queries on mental health came from people in the age group of 21-30, followed by 25 per cent in the age group of 31-40, 5 per cent for 41-60, and 10per cent from those above 60 years.
Mental health in India, unfortunately, is not taken seriously. There are prevalent two extreme reactions that people give when it comes to discussing mental health problems-either it is not at all taken seriously and gets brushed under the carpet. The person who needs help is made to shut. On the other hand, visiting a professional to seek help in case of mental health instability, the person is labelled as “mad.’
Community Response
Though the extremities are diluting gradually yet a lot of awareness needs to spread. As a community one must eradicate the disgrace that is shown towards the individual and the family of the one suffering from mental health disorder. “Treat it like any other bodily illness. Speak up, go to a professional for guidance. Look after yourself, what you eat, drink and stay mindful so that you do not step back into dark spaces,’’ says Dr Anju Clinical Psychologist at Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner University of Rajasthan.
Mental Health during Pandemic
Celebrating World Mental Health Day, as an individual it is important to understand mental and emotional health, not shy away from getting therapies or visit a professional for handholding. In addition to the already existing mental health conditions, many people during the present times of ciris are experiencing complex emotions due to stress, isolation, anxiety, grief, and financial loses. The situation becomes more crucial given that, COVID has affected critical mental health services in 93 per cent of countries, data from the World Health Organization shows.
“In current times, when social distancing and isolation has increased, people are forced to stay indoors, compromising on their mental, emotional & physical space, cases of depression, anxiety, panic attacks, low self-esteem cases are on an all-time high,’’ says Dr Roma Kumar, Senior consultant psychologist& Vice Chairperson Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi.
According to the Practo Health Insights
(Oct 2019- Sep 2020),
65 per cent of the queries were from metro cities which grew by over 500
per cent since last year. 70 per cent of all mental health-related consults
came from men. It is to note that most of the queries came from Bangalore,
followed by Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, and Kolkata. In
Non-metro cities, most of the queries came from Chandigarh, Lucknow,
Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur, Hubli, Kanpur and Ahmedabad.
Observing the present times, The World Health Organisation (WHO) insists to healthcare professionals, organisations and communities to raise awareness campaigns and pump up investment, of time, research and effort towards getting mental health in good order.
There are innumerable people suffering in silence who fear being judged if they open up about their mental health condition.As a community we’ve got to completely obliterate the stigma attached to it. The problem persists across age groups, across genders, cutting social status boundaries, then why shy and suffer in silence.