Interventions In Mental Health

Technology is an enabler that helps in creating awareness on mental health

- Arindam Sen

The mental health of our country is a cause for alarm with a very large number of people being affected by some type of mental ailment. As per the last study by NIMHANS, in 2016, almost 10.7% of 18+ adults and over 7.3% of adolescents are affected by mental health issues. The actual range is actually 5.8% to 14.1% across states. These are very large numbers and only capture the morbidity in the sample population which covered 12 states. If one were to expand this study to a national level, the numbers could see dramatic changes. In total, about 150 million people are affected.

Prevalence of mood disorders was at 3.35%, 5.53% and 7.94% in the age groups of 18-29, 20- 39, 40-49 years respectively. There is also very high prevalence of depressive disorders at 3%, 5.3%, 7.47% for the above age groups. Thus, the age group of 20 to 49 seems the most vulnerable for mood and depressive disorders which corresponds with the phase when major life changes are happening. Urban India in general and metros in particular also clearly scores over rural areas in prevalence of the above disorders, thereby reflecting the stress associate with urban living with waning social and family support systems.