Minding our mind sportspersons to covid fighters mental health is critical india’s help infra is pitiful

Minding our mind sportspersons to covid fighters mental health is critical india’s help infra is pitiful

Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles, Olympics’ two biggest stars, have underperformed. Yet they have received widespread support and sympathy. In being upfront about mental health struggles, they may have touched a chord with many in this pandemic-scarred world, India included. Twitter data between January 2020 and June 2021 shows a 150% jump in conversations about mental health in India, as compared to the previous 18 months. But here’s a very Indian tragedy – even those wanting to get help confront a thoroughly inadequate mental health infrastructure.

The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 says the rights things – from decriminalising suicide attempts to stipulating that insurers will provide for treatment of mental illness, and protecting persons with mental illness from solitary confinement. But chasms lie between law and reality. A stark reminder came just this month when the Supreme Court directed Maharashtra not to shift those cured of mental illness from hospitals to the destitute shelters.

Whether it is schemes like District Mental Health Programme, which routinely underuses funds, or new helplines set up by states over the last year, a big challenge is the small number of mental health professionals. A WHO estimate is that India has, per 100,000 people, just 0.3 psychiatrists, 0.07 psychologists and 0.07 social workers. This is pitifully inadequate. Countries as diverse as Britain and Zimbabwe have successfully experimented with training non-specialists to step into the gap, with rigorous tutelage and oversight of courses being critical.

The need for professional help is stark across various demographics, from students without schools to doctors tied to Covid duty without break, those experiencing survivors’ guilt, those struggling to pay bills and those unable to put any reason to a dark void within. As Biles said, it’s been a really stressful, long year. Even if asking for help is in our control, for us to get it requires the sarkar to step up.