JUDGING THE BOOK BY ITS COVER: Mental Health Day today

Dr Shraddha Jadhav Vakil

In the year of 2021, the 21st century, many celebrities are coming forward with their issues of mental health. People are talking about the mental health affecting them in everyday life. Yet, how much of the help is reaching out to common people? It’s time to think. This year's theme of Mental Health Day 2021 is ‘Mental health in an unequal world’ given by World Federation for Mental Health president Dr Ingrid Daniels. The reason for choosing this theme, our world has been pulled apart by the wealthy becoming wealthier and the poor drifted apart by simple needs.

In India, many services are available for mental health issues. These services mostly advertise themselves as being for these people on time but most often the treatment is provided considering the type of population. In India, it is common that our communities are largely shaped by caste, religion, socio-economic status, gender and sexual orientation that decide the quality and ease to access mental health service. Just not based on religion, it can be seen that in any religion, the rich have better health treatment access than the poor. The public health system is failing due to poor research and its expected role of protecting the poor has not been fulfilled.

Accordingly, LBGTQ people are often considered as a minority (The Supreme Court argued that the LGBTQI population was ‘minuscule’) and are not given access or denied treatment due to their sexual orientation. In one study, it was seen, 19% of LBGTQ people were denied the access for health care they needed and shockingly 29% were being harassed and physically assaulted at the time of their health visit.

People with low socioeconomic status can lack resources due to which they have traumatic issues that further develop into mental health issues. Not having proper education or unemployment can lead to basic mental health problems like depression and anxiety disorders. The financial restraints can make it difficult for them to get direct access for mental health treatment.

The current scenario of Covid-19 pandemic is adding more stress to this situation. This virus has not been the same for everyone. From the aspect of mental health, not everyone is getting the help they need including unemployed people, people with long-term mental health issues and women. Psychological trauma of people affected with Covid virus along with people who have lost their family and loved ones was not an exception.

In this chosen world and unchosen mental issues, our concern lies with lack of education about mental health in schools. Though it is good to know that many public schools are coming up with awareness of different health related topics, mental health awareness is still suffering. Under-research is also one of the main reasons we are lacking in giving good access to people with mental health issues. Hence, more research is needed in this area. Breaking down the stigma and coming out with more awareness activities will certainly help people coming to hospital with ease to discuss their mental health.

(The writer is Neuro Psychologist (UK), MGM Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad).