Due to the lockdown imposed in 2020, we all were confined to our homes. We got to spend time with our family, but had to confront uncomfortable and dark feelings too. As a result, 500k people attempted suicide in 2020 alone, more than the number of Covid deaths of India. Since then, there has been a growing concern and importance regarding mental health and psychology.
As someone who also started giving importance to mental health in 2020 only, it makes me think- are we lacking in spreading awareness about such topics? Yesterday when I was returning home via the school bus, I was conversing with a junior, but what concerned me how she doesn’t want to become a “pagalon ka doctor”. In fact it is still common for people to refer psychologists and psychiatrists as “pagalon ka doctor” instead of mental health professionals.
Definitely it’s important to produce skilled psychologists who’ll help in treating people suffering from mental illnesses, but if the masses don’t acknowledge such things, what’s the use of it? Its high time we carry on this awareness on mental health and make others realise how mentally suffering doesn’t mean becoming a mad person; rather its a natural phenomena in human beings and therefore we should be more empathetic to these people so that they can access to professional help without any shame or tantrums from others.