"Serial killers to completely disabled", Are these images that comes to your mind when you think about the mentally disabled?, if yes?. Then your assumption are not justified. Mental illness can present as a wide spectrum of defects, and the mentally ill have 10 times more chances of being a victim than any normal human being, so they are mostly likely to be the prey, not the predator.
India has over a billion human occupants, and it is considered that at least 5% of the population is affected by some form of mental illness. Which amounts to over 50 million.
PREVALENCE
In a study conducted in 1999, Depression was the most common form of mental illness, while Alzheimer's was found to be the most common among the severe illnesses. The prevalence of mental disorders in India was estimated to be 70.5 per 1000 in rural, and 73 per 1000 in the urban population. Showing, there are no significant differences among prevalence rates in urban, slum and rural areas.
SOCIAL STIGMA
Mental illness is highly stigmatised in India, especially among women, who are typically admitted to mental health facilities without any legal rights. They undergo involuntary treatment and improper diagnosis.
The social stigma though reduced over the years, has not been significant enough to see mental illness only as a health issue. Even now, there are certain hesitations on the part of a family to admit openly that their family member is mentally ill.
The term mental illness has been sold very poorly, people are labelled crazy, mad, bonkers, pagal, loosu, etc. If they seek help, the connotation is so negative. When someone realises about his mental illness, the person is so ashamed to admit it to both, themselves and their families.
People with depressive or obsessive thoughts are either asked to snap out of it, or their symptoms are exaggerate and they are bracketed as 'insane'.
LACK OF RESOURCES
There are only 43 government run mental hospitals to serve the entire population and 80 percent districts have no psychiatrists at all. Both, the infrastructure and resources are sparse. A senior psychiatrist admits, "There is a lack of mental health facilities in the country. There are around five to seven thousand psychiatrists in India, whereas, when it comes to cardiologists, there are as many, in just Mumbai city alone."
In 1999, it was found that there were two types of mental hospitals, one served as a dumping ground to abandon the mentally ill. They are poorly managed and the patients are usually abused and mistreated. In the second type, proper medical staff, food and beds are available, but they use medications to just manage the patients on a day-to-day basis instead of improving their conditions or rehabilitate them. Though environment of hospitals and awareness have improved now, we still have a long way to go.
Due to shame and stigma, not just the infrastructure but the basic education to handle mental health are also lacking here. Only a handful of psychologists are trained and researching on severe trauma cases.
SUICIDE IS A CRIMINAL ACT
In surveys done from 1987 to 2007, the suicide rates have increased from 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000. In India, an attempt to suicide is a criminal act. We still have to realise that a person who commits suicide is not a criminal, rather, a patient who needs help. One of the major causes of suicide is depression, and if the person is treated for his problem, the condition would not escalate to a case of suicide.
NO INSURANCE
One of the sad truths is that insurance companies do not provide medical insurance to people who are admitted in hospitals with mental illnesses. Even, the time needed for rehabilitation are not given to them by the companies they work for, as most companies do not recognise mental illness an health issue. They face discrimination in jobs, have a difficult time finding new jobs and in some scenarios, are fired from their current jobs.
LEARNING DISORDERS
Children with learning disorders like Dyslexia, ADHD, silently drop out or are made to bear the brunt of the unfair education system. This is due to lack of awareness in schools and among parents.
ADDICTION
Since medicinal drugs are widely abused, addiction is not going to disappear with only banning recreational drugs. There are certain segments in our population who are more prone to become addicted due to the traits (genes). Sadly, India has very few de-addiction centres (831 compared to 14,500 in USA).
The urban population is comparatively well off than the rural population, in terms of awareness and infrastructure. This disparity is due to polarisation of doctors and tertiary care hospitals in the urban areas. Our government should be efficient enough to provide mental health service to the entire population. The replacement of large families by nuclear ones, had left many of the mentally ill, homeless. The rising suicide rates are also a clear
indicator of our negligence towards the needs of the mentally fragile.
Mental health is about being mentally fit and in balance, it is not just about treating advanced diseases. Anyone who needs their life to be peaceful and stable can seek help. Medications are not always the preferred modality of treatment, psychotherapy has worked wonders in many problems.
Mental health is an alarming issue, which causes morbidity and even mortality in the affected, leaving them with a very poor standard of living. We can only hope that Indian health sector (both private and public) understands the need for expanding its mental health services (hospitals and the doctors), and may be one day, the mentally ill can undergo proper treatment without any stigma like any other patient.
No comments:
Post a Comment