By Rachna Sharma: A Woman Leader on a mission – Political & Spiritual peace in India
A big change that we need to see in India is about preventive mental healthcare, it has been neglected and never made a mainstream discussion. Hiding it from yourself, others and society have been the earlier norms and thats preciously why it gets treated and viewed as something really objectionable or something that would reject the person suffering socially.
When we talk about mental health, science has taken a leap telling us how it manifests as Violence in societies. Violence is a mental disorder & Currently our country India is suffering from it.
One is the reactive approach to all this which is legilatation, structures, organisations and people dedicated to it.
However the other is psychological approach. India is going through a tough time. On the timeline of India we see, it going from good to great. Learning how to be on its own, how to have an opinion, how to demand for its rights and how to fulfill its duties. This quick evolution of India has been left to it natural process, which might take more time and will let us see even worst incidents & rage on roads. However in this scientific era, we need to aid and expedite this evolution by ensuing mental healthcare
Reactive Mental healthcare is something which we are doing well with, we have several people spoken on it, we have doctors and clinics in place. Its becoming accessible.
Preventive mental healthcare is non existent. Preventive healthcare means reducing incidents, wether those are rapes, violence, homicides, suicides or any kind of violence. India needs to introduce Interventions which are based on modifying the risk exposure and strengthening the coping mechanism of the individual. Mental healthcare could be genetic, pre & post natal, social risks, trauma, insufficient stimulation, general adversity, stressful life events & drug abuse. Currently we do not have any system which practices towards at risk oriented detection and intervention or systems promoting healthy lifestyles including nutrition and lifestyle. India needs to encourage school based interventions targeting children, parents and educating professionals.
So We must deploy resources who can look into current & coming civilian population. Mental health problems affect women & men equally. The same number of women and men experience mental health problems overall, but some problems are more common in women than men, and vice versa.
Lifetime prevalence rate of violence against women ranges from 16% to 50%. Gender discrimination, domestic violence and sexual abuse, combine to account for women’s poor mental health. There is a positive relationship between the frequency and severity of such social factors and the frequency and severity of mental health problems in women.
The 1995 United Nations (UN) Beijing Platform for Action states that “Women have the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The enjoyment of this right is vital to their life and wellbeing…”
Women’s unique roles in reproduction, the family and society, and their often lower socioeconomic status, makes its top priority for any country to provide preventive mental healthcare.
The identification of women’s mental health problems should ideally start with women themselves who should be provided with accurate, understandable information about mental health, psychological distress, illnesses, and available services and treatments. Women in distress should not be stigmatized and the role of discrimination in the genesis of mental health problems in women requires special consideration. Reiterating my first point we need more women in politics who will facilitate this process in their constituencies and parliament.
Treatment settings need to be secure from breaches of fiduciary trust by health care providers and staff, and the quality of care should be assessed by indicators of gender- sensitive research. India needs to support gender equality in practice and eradicate gender harassement, intimidation or unjustified discrimination on the basis of sex. This means we need to invest in massive research & development or learn from other countries who are leading in equality.
India adopted its first Mental Health Act in July 2017. We are in 2020. We need the govt to now invest in preventive mental healthcare research & development & women politicians to take another leap in helping citizens aid in making India the best place to live.
