Mental Health Awareness: A Growing Need In India

By Rishabh Shah

This post is part of a series of opinion pieces in diverse mediums focusing on the theme “What makes you mad about global health?” These submissions are by McGill students who were part of the course PPHS 511 Fundamentals of Global Health in Fall 2021.

This video talks about the lack of importance of mental health in developing nations such as India. According to the WHO, the burden of mental health problems in India is 2443 DALYs (disability-adjusted life years) per 100,000 people, and the estimated economic loss that India will face in the next decade due to these issues is more than 1 Trillion USD (1). Yet, mental health remains an avoided topic of discussion and people with mental health problems and mental illnesses are stigmatized and berated in society. A study found that 13.67% of Indians would develop at least one mental disorder in their lifetime, and 10.56% of the population were experiencing some form mental illness at the point of data collection in 2016 (2). This highlights the severity of the burden that mental health problems cause in a developing country like India and emphasizes the importance of normalizing talking about mental health in society. Due to this, I had a conversation with a friend who is born and raised in India, to talk about her experience/knowledge of mental health and how this topic is dealt with in India in her perspective.

The questions we talked about are provided below:

  • According to you, what is mental health?

  • What is society’s view on mental health?

  • Does one’s socioeconomic status affect the value that one places on mental health?

  • Is mental health considered as important as physical health?

Mental Health Resources in Montreal, Canada:

  • Suicide Action Montreal Hotline: 514-723-4000

  • Tel-Aide: 514-935-1101

  • IMAlive: (Live Chat)

  • Ami-Quebec: 514-486-1448

  • Face à Face: 514-934-4546

  • Canadian Mental Health Association: 514-521-4993

  • Interligne (for LGBTQ+): 514 866-0103

  • Depressives Anonymous: 514-278-2130

Mental Health Resources in Mumbai, India:

  • Samaritans Mumbai: +91 84229 84528 / +91 84229 84529 / +91 84229 84530

  • Arpan: +91-9819086444

  • Sumaitri: 011-23389090 / 09315767849

  • Mpower 1 on 1: 1800-1208-20050

  • Snehi: 09582208181 iCALL: 022-25521111, +91-9152987821

  • Yaariyan, Hamsafar Trust (for LGBTQ+): +91-22-26673800

  • Mann Talks: +91-8686139139

References:

  1. World Health Organization. (n.d.). Mental health. World Health Organization. Retrieved November 23, 2021, from https://www.who.int/india/health-topi....

  2. Gautham, M. S., Gururaj, G., Varghese, M., Benegal, V., Rao, G. N., Kokane, A., ... & Shibukumar, T. M. (2020). The National Mental Health Survey of India (2016): Prevalence, socio-demographic correlates and treatment gap of mental morbidity. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(4), 361-372.

References for the Video:

  1. Audio→ ‘Inspiration Piano- Calm Background Music For Videos’ and ‘Relax In The Forest’, both taken from https://pixabay.com/music/search/mood...

  2. Video Visuals → ‘Splatter of White and Red Colour on Motion Paint’ by Mart Productions and ‘Smoke with Colors’ by Engin Akyurt, both taken from https://www.pexels.com/search/videos/...

Special thanks to Trisha Goswami for taking the time to answer my questions and sharing her thoughts and opinions. I am also grateful to have received her consent to upload this video.

Acknowledgments:

We would like to thank Professor Madhukar Pai for setting and sharing this assignment results with us and the teaching assistants Alexandra Jaye Zimmer, Lavanya Huria and Angie Sassi for their support in coordinating the results.

Mental HealthMcGill Perspectives on Global HealthEthics & Equity, McGill