89 per cent people in 35-49 age group in the grip of extreme stress

Bengaluru: Almost 82% of India's population is suffering from stress, states Cigna 360 Well-Being Survey. Moreover, the worrying factor in the survey is that people in the age group of 35-49 are the most affected with around 89% reporting some level of stress, with major causes being work, health, and finance-related issues.

Being India's tech hub, many people in Bengaluru are dealing with severe stress due to the different lifestyles they have adapted to live. This is also the reason why at least 200 people, suffering from stress or financial insecurity or loneliness, commit suicide every month in the city. Worse is that most of them do not talk to medical professionals.

"Although people seek professional help from counsellors and mental health professionals, many more are reluctant on account of stigma and unfamiliarity with how a counsellor will help. Many also find it hard to take out time for a mental health professional," said Neha Cadabam, consultant psychologist, Cadabams Hospitals.

Loneliness or social isolation is the new age epidemic prevalent worldwide, said Dr Venkatesh Babu GM, consultant psychiatrist at the Fortis Hospital.

"There are various reasons that lead to loneliness, especially in urban cities like migration to seek job, changing family structures, low social cohesion, social discrimination, uprooting of pre-existing support systems like friends and family, increase of addiction behaviour, pre-existing physical and mental health problems, poor work-life balance, etc.," he said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that 17 persons out of every 100,000 people commit suicide in Bengaluru, the highest in the country, followed by New Delhi and Mumbai with 10 to 12 per 100,000 suicide rates, respectively.

It is not just the middle age people who are falling prey to suicide but the youngsters are also taking the extreme step. A study by National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, says 10 percent of suicides in Bengaluru are by youngsters in the age group of 10-14 years.

Awareness and acknowledgment around mental health have prompted several schools and colleges in the city to have counsellors while several corporate offices have introduced self-healing techniques like yoga and meditation sessions to help their employees beat the stress.