A paradigm shift is becoming obvious when it comes to awareness and advocacy on Mental Health concerns that we face in daily life. On the occasion of mental health week, Dr Kedar Tilwe, Consultant-Psychiatrist, Fortis Hospital Mulund and Fortis Hiranandani Hospital, Vashi talks about it…
There is a shift towards holding healthy conversations about topics which were earlier considered taboo and the attempt to include advocates of these issues in the mainstream rather then ostracise them.
This laudable shift driven by an concentrated effort to reduce stigma and build tolerance as well as acceptance on an organisational, community and Individual level is indeed praiseworthy.
But at the grass root level there still remains a huge chasm between those who have access to mental health and those who do not. The primary factors causing this include a lack of awareness on availability of solutions for mental health, a deeply ingrained stigma, practices of social targeting and ostracism of people with mental illnesses and even more importantly a huge logistical gap in access.
Despite a global push in acknowledging the ‘Rights of a Person with Mental Illness’ and the implementation of the new Mental Health Policy , there still remains the important unfinished and uphill task of making Mental Health assessable to all.
So this World Mental Health day let’s take a look at some of the measures which will help us do so:
1. Introduction of a Mental Health curriculum and making it mandatory to teach about mental health concerns in schools will go a long way in creating and spreading awareness of mental health issues in the general population and sensitizing them to the needs of Persons with Mental Illness’.
2. Teaching life skills and healthy coping mechanisms to stressors would help students deal better with any stresses and handle any pressure that they encounter.
3. Learning to empathize, developing tolerance, active listening techniques and understanding of the consequences of their own words and actions can be of great help in reducing the ostracism encountered by persons with mental illness.
4. Holding community, industry and organisational level talks about the causes, symptoms and demystifying associated myths as well as discussing the treatment modalities available for persons with mental illness will greatly reduce the stigma associated with it and shall allow people to seek help rather then shut in.
5. Use of the social media to spread awareness and it’s use in appropriate places as a ‘Call to action button’ is of paramount importance in the endeavor to ensure Mental Health for all.
6. Finally allowing easing of practice for Tele-Psychiatry services, Helplines, and community outreach wherever possible and ensuring awareness and accessibility of this to the community is perhaps the most important step towards achieving our goal!
