Guest Column: 'Help is available but very few seek it'

Dr H Chandrashekhar Professor and HOD, Department of Psychiatry, Victoria Hospital, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI)

People need to be made aware of the psychological issues they have to battle and take action accordingly. Healthcare efforts and good counselling programs should take place on a regular basis. We need to begin by educating people on mental health and how to maintain a degree of emotional stability in today’s high-stress environments. Proper holidays and regular time off are a must, despite the fact that their jobs are demanding and require constant attention. 

Good facilities for recreation should also be provided at the workplace. It’s also up to the individual to introspect, understand their strengths and weaknesses and refrain from comparing their lives with those of others, which is a perennial source of negativity. Counselling is also an important method to help people come out of these situations. There is also a huge treatment gap in this regard – only 15% of the population actually seeks treatment.

Similarly, mental health can be addressed in workplaces and educational institutions using life skills techniques that aim at health promotion, early detection as well as awareness programmes on mental health (for common mental disorders like depression, anxiety, stress reduction, alcohol and tobacco use and the like). These should be promoted at all levels; the development of programme implementation guidelines, mechanisms and resources are critical requirements. Awareness is the key here.

Also, Advocacy for mental health with the active engagement of the media is critical to developing programmes for the advancement of mental health.