As the number of people suffering from mental illnesses continues to rise, India remains unprepared to deal with the growing number of patients. Presently, about 7.5% of the country’s population suffers from mental illnesses. According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the number is predicted to rise to about 20% of the total population by 2020.
Despite these worrying statistics, India continues to be ill-equipped to tackle the problem. There are only about 0.3 psychiatrists per 100,000 people in the country. When other professionals involved in the sector, like psychologists and social workers, are considered, the numbers fall to 0.047 and 0.033 respectively.
The scene of training healthcare personnel like counsellors in India is also dismal. While the Skill India scheme has incorporated nursing as a course, no policy exists for training counsellors.
Social stigma and the lack of awareness about mental illnesses further complicate the problem. A majority of the people still go to ‘faith healers’ for treatment. Moreover, there is a bias that such problems exist only in extreme forms like schizophrenia. Problems like alcoholism and mood disorders are often considered as habits rather than health problems.
A National Mental Health Policy was adopted in 2014, but its promises of affordable healthcare remain unfulfilled. According to a Lancet study released in 2016, only one in 10 Indians have access to proper mental healthcare.
As comprehensive governmental efforts elude the field of mental health, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are coming up with special initiatives to tackle the problem. NGOs are implementing models to combat alcoholism, depression and other problems, in addition to training people to work in the field of mental health.
Sangath, a Goa-based NGO, has started a programme which trains lay psychologists to help people. They counsel people, but they are not qualified psychiatrists.
“Mental health has received very less attention, despite a shift in the health scenario,” says Dr. Abhijit Nadkarni, leading psychiatrist at the NGO’s Addiction Research Group. “India has transitioned from the treatment of infectious, communicable diseases to non-communicable, lifestyle diseases like diabetes. The focus is now on problems which have more visible effects, like cancer. This leads to mental illnesses becoming a lesser priority, when it comes to policy making,” he further adds.
Dr. Monica Kumar, the Managing Trustee of Manas Foundation, explains that a poor understanding of mental health is responsible for the faulty implementation of schemes to counter it. “The focus is only on institutionalised reforms.” She adds that with the spotlight being only on medical treatments, other avenues of treatment like counselling and community health are neglected.
Dr. Rajesh Kumar, a professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), has a different take on the issue. He argues that providing treatment to patients is the first priority, for which medical attention is often necessary.
“Counselling is just one part. The only way to reduce the burden of disease is for the NGOs and government to work in tandem.” He advocates training of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers in counselling and psychology as an idea for the same.
India’s steadily-depressing mental health statistics is proof that no policy or idea is showing any positive result. As long as this situation persists, patients suffering from mental illnesses in the country will continue to suffer silently.
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