MAD! HOW INDIA SHRUGS OFF MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

From stigma to poor infrastructure, millions remain untreated despite new laws and growing awareness

- BY SWATI CHATURVEDI | Special to Gulf News

The Indian government's move to appoint actor Deepika Padukone as its first mental health brand ambassador is commendable. It shines a spotlight on the hidden fact that India is fast emerging as the crisis country of the global mental illness epidemic.

Leaving aside Padukone — who has been admirably open about her own battles with depression and the ire of right-wing trolls who find her a red rag — the crisis is real and needs to be urgently addressed. We have the largest and youngest population in the world, and what we smugly call our demographic dividend is struggling to cope with the stresses of an Instagram-perfect world.

According to the latest figures corroborated by the Ministry of Health and mental health experts I spoke to for this analysis, millions of people in India are affected by mental disorders ranging from autism to schizophrenia. Despite a plethora of progressive laws, such as the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017, the reality on the ground remains dismal.