Reports on Mental Health Week

South India – Suicide capital of the World

Social Welfare Minister Poongothai has promised all assistance to the mentally challenged to prevent them from committing suicide. Participating in a programme on Issues Relating to Mental Illness organised by Vidyasagar and Add India on the occasion of World Mental Health Day, she said that she would consult the Chief Minister and the Health Minister on the issue and lend all assistance possible.

Referring Lancet, a reputed medical journal, mentioning South India as the suicide capital of the world, she said, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have the highest number of suicidal deaths related to mental ill health and steps should be taken to reduce them. According to a study, people in the age group between 15 and 44 are most prone to suicidal tendencies, and to think of such a scenario happening to people in the prime of their youth is distressing.

The number of psychiatrists in Tamil Nadu is about 3,500 which is low considering the rise in the number of people affected by mental illness, she said.

Source: Minister promises help to mentally challenged, Indian Express, Chennai, 11 October 2007.

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Poor awareness greatest drawback

People who believe that they are under the influence of ghosts, spiritual powers and supernatural effects are mentally ill and need treatment. Counselors tired to convince the relatives of patients suffering from mental problems at the Geriatric Medicine department, where the World Mental Health Day was observed. A series of lecture, poster exhibition and counseling sessions have been planned to mark the occasion.

Head of the department and secretary of the State Mental Health Authority (SMHA), SC Tiwari favored counseling and medical treatment. He said, “Lack of awareness is the spread of such diseases. People tend to visit ‘babas’ for redressal of their problems. Actually, such people are ill and should visit medical professionals.”

There are several other causes behind mental diseases. People often avoid visiting treatment centers because they fear being labeled insane. “This apprehension acts as a deterrent to visiting hospitals for scientific treatment and the patients turn to quacks who only aggravate the problem,” Tiwari said. Meanwhile, SMHA at Swsthaya Bhawan has planned widespread publicity of the world Mental Day to create awareness among the masses. Posters and banners on the problem have been dispatched to all Chief Medical Officers for publicity. Instructions have also been issued to keep a tab on such patients and provide them proper medical care.

Source: World Mental Health Day today, The Pioneer, Lucknow, 10 October 2007.

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Not enough psychiatrists in India

“There are 5–6 million people who are chronically disabled due to acute mental illness. One lakh people die every year of suicide, many in their productive years. One in four persons will develop a psychiatric disorder in their life. Depression will be the second leading cause of burden of disease in the world by 2020. Eighty percent of the patients do not get any treatment,” says well known psychiatrist Sameer Parikh.

Launching the Delhi chapter of the Indian Association of Private Psychiatry on Mental Health Day here on Wednesday, Dr. Parikh said: “The reason to initiate this scientific body is to ensure a structured, validated flow of information and provide comprehensive and scientific education to people.”

Senior psychiatrist R.C. Jiloha said there were very few psychiatrists and hospital beds for people with mental illness in this country. “Psychiatric illnesses cause untold suffering to the patient as well as the family and are a huge drain on the economy. The myths about mental illness, lack of awareness, stigma against mentally ill, non–availability of treatment and the apathy of the policy makers are important hurdles in the delivery of treatment to the sufferers,” he added.

Psychiatrist Sandeep Vohra said: “The available mental health services are unevenly distributed and most of our mental hospitals are dilapidated and conceptually obsolete. We suggest more accessibility to mental health services, affordability, adaptability and assessment of performance at the ground level through monitoring. There are few psychiatrists for the huge India population. What is worse is the fact that nearly all of these psychiatrists are based in the cities.”

He said that apart from a poor infrastructure, the most glaring inadequacies are in the area of qualified staff.’Some mental hospitals do not have even a single psychiatrist on their permanent roster. During the past two decades, many hospitals have reformed but much more needs to be done,” said Dr. Vohra.

Psychiatrists have also demanded that mental health services be set up within the community and psychosocial rehabilitation be considered a fundamental approach.

Source: Mentally sick patients do not get any treatment, say experts, The Hindu, New Delhi, 12 October 2007.

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