mental-health-address-the-elephant-in-the-room

It’s an elephant in the room that we often prefer to ignore and even pretend as if it doesn’t exist. In a society full of social stigmas and taboos, mental health disorders are often mocked at. Depression, for instance, is an invisible stalker who pulls the victim into a black hole of loneliness. The social stigma surrounding mental disorders often forces the patients to suffer in silence.

According to experts, one in seven Indians is affected by mental health disorders, while several states continue to face a treatment gap due to shortage of clinical psychiatrists and counsellors. India has 9,000 psychiatrists, or less than one doctor for every one lakh people, while the World Health Organisation’s norms say there should be three for every one lakh population.

The scarcity is even more severe in rural areas, where access to specialised mental health services is extremely limited. As a result, a large number of patients remain undiagnosed or treated.

Despite growing awareness and policy initiatives, the country continues to face a silent but deepening mental health crisis. Experts estimate that nearly 70 to 90 percent of individuals suffering from mental health conditions do not receive adequate treatment. This gap reflects structural weaknesses in the health system.

While India has made significant strides through initiatives like Tele MANAS and the National Mental Health Programme, building a mentally healthier society requires strengthening awareness, expanding workforce training, investing in digital solutions, and adopting a whole-of-society approach to ensure accessible, inclusive, and stigma-free mental healthcare for all.

 

Social taboo

The situation in India is particularly alarming because it is a taboo to talk about mental health problems and support systems are woefully inadequate. Mental illness continues to be misunderstood and often associated with shame or weakness. Many individuals hesitate to seek professional help due to fear of social judgement or discrimination. In several communities, mental health conditions are still attributed to supernatural causes, pushing patients toward informal or traditional remedies rather than medical care.

Multiple studies indicate that 15 per cent of Indian adults require intervention for mental health issues. More alarmingly, between 70 per cent and 92 per cent of people with mental disorders do not receive proper treatment, primarily due to lack of awareness, pervasive stigma, shortage of professionals, and infrastructure limitations.

According to the WHO, over 90 million Indians, accounting for 7.5 per cent of the population, suffer from mental health issues. In a 2021 UNICEF survey, around 14 per cent of 15 to 24-year-olds in India reported frequently feeling depressed. The major reasons that prevent many patients from seeking medical treatment are high healthcare costs, social stigma and lack of awareness about available therapies.

 

Also read: What’s wrong in taking World Cup trophy to a temple?

 

Step up public spending

Mental health traditionally receives only a small fraction of the public health budget, thereby severely limiting the expansion of facilities and services. Unfortunately, only about 1.05 per cent of the country’s health budget is allocated to mental health, which greatly hampers service expansion and innovation. Moreover, mental health care often involves out-of-pocket expenditure, making it inaccessible to economically weaker sections of society.

Strengthening tertiary mental health institutions and expanding specialised services must be the critical priorities for the healthcare system. The recent announcement, made in the 2026-27 Union Budget, about the establishment of a second National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in North India is a welcome development but much more needs to be done to improve regional access to mental healthcare. There is a need for concerted efforts to enhance advanced clinical care, training capacity, research capability, and innovation in neurosciences.

 

Killing fields

 

High suicide rates, particularly among young adults, underscore the severity of mental health issues in India. Campuses and coaching centres have virtually turned into killing fields where student suicides, largely attributed to depression, are reported with unfailing regularity. The campus suicides have come to acquire a macabre sense of déjà vu. Every death is a cry in wilderness; a silent scream that should haunt us collectively as a nation.

After acing one of the toughest competitive tests in the world, students step into these hallowed campuses, dreamy-eyed and full of hope and optimism, but what they eventually go through during this crucial phase is something that the society never bothers to find out. Not all students will be equipped to handle the academic stress. Unfortunately, some will crack up. These tragedies are largely preventable.

But, the efforts of the authorities have so far been patchy, ritualistic and ineffective. The campus suicides are a grim reminder of the failure of the existing institutional framework in addressing mental health concerns of students on campuses.  The IITs alone had witnessed 127 suicides between 2005 and 2024. 
High expectation for excellence, peer pressure, inability to cope with punishing schedules, little or no personal interaction with the faculty, caste discrimination, uncertainty about campus placements, relationship and family issues are among the factors responsible for the rise in campus suicides.

 

Community support

While addressing the structural and financial lacunae, it is also important for the society to not stigmatise the victims but provide a community support structure so that they are not left to wage a lone battle. The proportional contribution of mental health to the total disease burden has almost doubled since 1990.

 

Strengthening the health infrastructure to address the needs of mentally ill people must get top priority by the central and state governments.
Poverty, gender inequalities, and cultural beliefs intensify the difficulty of recognising and treating mental health conditions. While tele-mental health programmes like Tele-MANAS have improved the reach, limited digital infrastructure in rural areas is a major hindrance.

Recognising the critical role of mental health, the Economic Survey 2024–25 underscored that mental well-being encompasses mental-emotional, social, cognitive, and physical dimensions. It advocated for a ‘whole-of-community’ approach to addressing mental health challenges and stressed the urgent need for viable, impactful preventive strategies and interventions.

 

Policy interventions

The government has initiated several policy measures over the past decade. A major step was the enactment of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, which adopts a rights-based approach to mental health care. The law guarantees every citizen the right to access mental health services and decriminalises suicide attempts, recognising them as a manifestation of psychological distress rather than a criminal act.

The National Mental Health Programme and the District Mental Health Programme seek to integrate mental health services into the general healthcare system. These programmes aim to provide basic psychiatric services at district hospitals and primary health centres, while also promoting awareness and early detection.

More recently, the government has expanded tele-mental health initiatives. The Tele-MANAS programme, launched as a nationwide tele-counselling service, provides round-the-clock psychological support through trained counsellors. Helplines such as KIRAN and digital platforms for counselling have also widened access to mental health assistance, particularly for individuals who may hesitate to seek face-to-face treatment.

Despite these encouraging developments, significant gaps remain in implementation. Experts emphasise that strengthening mental health care requires a multi-pronged strategy: increasing the number of trained professionals, expanding community-based services, integrating mental health into school and workplace environments, and sustaining large-scale awareness campaigns to combat stigma.