MENTAL HEALTH: A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

              We live in a social set-up which inculcates a pessimistic interpretation to the word mental in its entirety. “Let discuss about mental health”, “but my head doesn’t have any problem”, they might say and “I am not crazy”, they might add. The inequality in the mentality of the lot is the first challenge mental health care anywhere is facing. The perspective on mental health is seeing shining light in parts of the world shackling the empty turtle shell of stigma and stereotyping. 

             Mental health ponders on the need to maintain an overall well-being including the psychological, emotional and social aspects. The ways in which it can aid in understanding their potential and lead a productive life while contributing successfully to the community. But isn’t it high time that we checked into the reality prevailing in the world of mental health? When WHO came out with the definition for mental health many people gulped the paragraph without even trying to understanding the true purpose and significance of the words. It added into the syllabus of many students across the continents and some might be still struggling to study it. All I am saying is, the concept of mental health is still a part of some academics or knowledge acquisition constricting the need of it into some theory and not applied practically for many. India is a good example on this matter. Mental Health was included in the curriculum and some people started taking it seriously from recent years onwards. Ere that individuals suffering from mental health problems were seen as cursed and they would end up getting physically tortured. But some were scared to approach the mental health systems. We cannot blame them because the image of these institutions that persisted in the societal hierarchy is ghastly and grisly. Children grew up hearing the adults commenting or demanding someone other to be taken to a mental hospital and be electrocuted if they do something violent or out of ordinary. Thus this depiction has clutched itself from the grass root level of the society. Engendering mental health values through National and District mental health programmes, interventions by NGO’s, NIMHANS, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, substantially more involvements are ensuring the diffusion of mental health care into general health care. Yet what we forget to address is the unequal distribution in resources. The mental health care in India is aiming for equity however the availability of resources is a serious impediment to the progress. The figure of psychologists, psychiatrists and psychiatric social workers are lower than the demand. The shortage of rehabilitation facilities and count of beds in the institutions, accessibility to low cost medicines for the poor patients and availableness of all types of medicines required in these hospitals are in need to be done right. The Union budget 2021-22 allots only Rs 500 crore out of Rs 71,269 crore given to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a speed breaker to the busy lives of plenty of people. Nonetheless, it led to a proliferation of patients in the field of general medicine, parallelly mental health problems developed in the community, irrespective of age groups. Online classes are similar to constructing a building of education above a weak foundation. Students suffer from various mental health issues and on the verge of breakdown making it difficult for them to concentrate on anything at this time. The world is suffocating mentally but they seem like breathing normally. But we have started seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Community mental health care and the involvement of various organisations spreading the significance of mental health is progressing and the results will be visible to the country in few years.

             Everyone has begun to realize the need for staying emotionally, psychologically and socially fit. All of us can anticipate for a period when the unequal perspectives on mental health changes. Indulging the future in mental health activities rather than preaching to the population would aid in the reconstruction of mentality of people towards the betterment of self. Let any kind of obstacles hinder you path, with a good mental health all the stones in your way uphill to success and in life will turn into flight of stairs.

Pc laura