Answer of the day-Mental Health--10/10/2017

Question

1.India is the suicide capital of the world and one of the major reason for same is mental health issue. What are the reason for such a grim state of mental health in the country? What steps need to be taken to improve the situation?

Sol-        Worldover number of suicides per year is around 8 lakhs and among this around 1.33 lakhs occur in India. One of the major issue for the same if mental health, other than family problems, indebtness, etc

        Around 13.7% of population in India suffer from some form of mental health. And it is expected to increase going forward. Reason for such a grim state of mental health in the country are

  

1.Transition state of economy---with increasing growth and urbanisation, complex ecpnomic system with stress level, long working hours, regular issue handling, disturb work-life balance. Also not all get the benefit of transitory economy and results in unemployment and unfulfilled aspiration, thus result in mental issues

2.Changing Social structure--with nuclear family in place of joint family, working women, independent living etc--support system decreases, time for communication decreases and thus mental issue resuLTS

3.Lack of AAA(accessibility, affordability and availability) of mental health professionals---With just .3 psychiatrist for 1 lakh people and that too mostly in major urban area--most people cant easily get professional help and thus mental diseases continues

To overcome this situation, following steps need to be taken

1.Increasing availability, affordability and accessibility of mental health professional---this issue is be9ng addressed by National mental health policy, 2014---this polocy need to be implemented in letters and spirit

2.increasing awareness and decreasing stigna related to.mental health--so that people do not hesitate in seeking mental help--steps like Deepika Padukone coming out regarding her depression is a good step

3.Making changes in economic setup so that proper work life balance, better knowledge about about changing work scenario, limited working hours, flexibility in term of work from home etc can be there so that stress of do not translate into stress at home

4.Promoting yoga, meditation etc--promotion of yoga and alternative health care by government is a right steps in this direction

Mental health is as important as physical health, thus it need to be promoted by promoting wellness, so that we can have happier Indian society.