Mental Health – An overview
The stigma involving mental health is a pervasive phenomenon anywhere, but more so in India. Though there can be a number of reasons for the growing stigmas associated with mental health, something that we can’t but agree that there is limited understanding of mental health and often brushed inside the carpet as a condition requiring proper care and treatment. It is important to address mental health issues and seek medical assistance very early from getting worse or turning into mental trauma.

A study by the WHO (World Health Organization) has revealed, almost a global phenomenon, that 1 in 4 people will go through a mental health issue any given year. Furthermore, almost every individual at some point or the other will have to tackle mental health challenges or crisis. The recent pandemic not just consumed lives in millions, but also destroyed the hope of rebuilding their careers, thereby affecting the mental state of the general public. This also implies that mental health imbalance need to be always dealt with a clinically diagnosed condition. Nonetheless, every individual, whether they go through clinical disorder, deal with bouts of paranoia, suspicious fears, phobias, anxiety or depression. All of us undergo a lean path or rough phase life; we run through the motions, and, in essence, deal with mental health imbalances.

In India, if a reliable report study is anything to go by, nearly 6.5 per cent of the people go through some form of a mental order, from mild to severe, with no seemingly rural-urban divide. The dearth of mental health professionals and the general fear associated with the subject of mental health has led to more complications. Suicide rates are increasing; a large number of the population is yielding to the consequences of day-to-day mental pressures, in spite of the fact that it’s not a big deal to get treatment and lead productive lives.