By Yasmine Ahmed Shilla
World Mental Health Day (WMHD) is an annual event on October 10th, instituted to create awareness about mental health concerns and to help organise resources to enhance mental health care. Every year the World Health Organisation (WHO) selects a theme to focus on a particular aspect of mental health. This year’s theme is Mental Health Care for All: Let’s Make it a Reality. This choice comes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the importance of mental health and wellbeing was realised anew and with greater vigour.
Sapien Labs in 2020 conducted a survey in 8 English-speaking countries across the world, India included, and reported that Singapore has the highest score in MHQ (Mental Health Quotient) of 94, while India trailed in at the fourth spot with a score of 60. Surprisingly, the UK and South Africa were at the bottom of the rankings. Going by this, mental health appears to affect everyone; it is a leveller, no matter how developed a country may be. It also reveals that mental health care and people’s access to it depends on how resources have been mobilised, what kind of attitude mental illness has in these societies, and how many actually get to access the treatment they require and when they need it.
With regard to “normalising” mental illness, even discussing it as an aspect that exists in the human social fabric, we need to understand the stigma that surrounds it. Often, including in families, mental illness is taboo and sweeping it under the carpet the “norm”. The unfortunate truth is that even in professional circles discussing our mental health concerns is stigmatised. So how do we remedy this situation? First, we raise awareness. Talking about mental illnesses, mental struggles, mental wellbeing, and such can help people realise that this is not something to hide, or to cope with, on our own. We can seek help, when necessary, that a macho image does not do us any good, especially when we are striving hard to get out of a dark place (aka mental illness). When we realise this, and teach other people that mental illness exists, that we need not struggle alone, that these are “normal” reactions to stressful and challenging circumstances, that help is available when needed, and that we can discuss and explore our unique efforts to cope with difficulties, only then can we make some headway in this direction.
Equalising the notion of the existence of mental illnesses, alongside physical ones, is one of the most challenging, yet essential, tasks that we as a people, and particularly someone like me as a mental health professional, need to undertake. When we converse about mental illnesses among friends or family there is usually an uncomfortable silence that could make a school teacher urging her students to maintain “pin drop silence” proud. Often, we find it difficult to discuss mental wellbeing, forget illness, as this is an area that is rarely well-understood or given due coverage in the media (especially in films and TV shows). Something that is incomprehensible is more likely to engender fear, and this is why greater awareness is important. Removing superstition and a wrongful portrayal of mental illnesses is imperative, especially during such times when information dissemination to millions is possible at the simple click of a button.
What is also important is mobilising resources that enable people with mental difficulties to access the care that they need. As Swachh India NDTV reported, India has 0.07 psychologists and social workers per 100,000 population and 0.3 psychiatrists for the same number of people. What is needed is at least 3 psychologists and 3 psychiatrists per 100,000 persons (ideally it needs to be 6 each per 100,000). Swachh India NDTV also stated that around 56 million Indians suffer from depression, and another 38 million people battle anxiety disorders. These numbers may actually be a conservative estimate if we account for those persons not seeking clinical treatment, or who do not meet the exact diagnostic criteria, but still wrestle with certain features of such disorders or illnesses. The ones who fall through the cracks, either due to a lack of awareness or because of the stigma associated with mental disorders, have a more difficult time coping with their illnesses.
Most Indians are probably familiar with the Bournvita jingle, “Tan ki shakti, mann ki shakti”. In the case of mental health and wellbeing let us endeavour to not just enjoy the punchline of this famous ad, but make it the motto we live by. Let us also work together to forge guidelines that make mental health a priority. Let us urge insurance companies to modify their policies to include coverage for mental health treatment. Let us all rise above the Orwellian concept “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” Let us make mental health care accessible, including in rural and remote areas. Let us destigmatise mental illnesses and “normalise” mental wellbeing and the striving for it.
Let us Normalise, Equalise, and Mobilise!!
Yasmine Ahmed Shilla is a counselling psychologist working with youth (ages 10-24 years) in Greater Guwahati.
