In the loving Memory of Kali

As I think of freedom and mental health, I hope all forms of stifling are challenged, and unjust barriers are broken

- Vandana Gopikumar

What does freedom mean to someone, whose mental health condition disqualifies them from employment in society's eyes? To those navigating between seeking help and facing social exile? To people growing up in conflict, to those witnessing daily indignities and violence foisted on their communities? We collaborated on this special issue because freedom is a distant dream, when millions remain marginalised and mental health differences further this exclusion.

Compared to past decades, psychiatric treatments have improved in India today, with wider availability, reduced physical side-effects and better outcomes. Yet, a vast majority of the country's population requiring mental healthcare is out of treatment. Among those who access, adequate continuity in care, lack of meaningful outcomes and downward drifts into poverty and homelessness are common.

Millions of Indians have to simultaneously confront social inequities layered atop mental health stigma. The special issue is our attempt to centre these aspects of mental health as an issue of freedom through testimonies: of women living with mental illness and histories of the homeless, Kashmiris enduring decades of conflict, the Dom community engaged in historically caste-mandated professions and more. Their stories arrive at a crucial moment, as we enter our 79th year of Independence, grappling with economic uncertainty and social fragmentation.

Freedom cannot exist in a vacuum. It requires resisting and dismantling the social orders that produce such disparities.

To this end, the stories on these pages are neither immersive tragedy nor exceptional inspiration. They represent the truthand truth, however ambiguous or uncomfortable, is the foundation of any meaningful social change.