'Make mental health campaigns as big as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan'

Mumbai -
Dr Harish Shetty, a psychiatrist, said that mental health is an epidemic among the youth in the country at India Today Conclave in Mumbai (October 5). He advocated for the government to conduct mental health campaigns on a large scale just like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

"The market is big and there are many quacks. We need mental health campaigns to be as big as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. We need to see mental health in that capacity," said Dr Harish Shetty, during the session, titled 'Youth, Hopelessness and Helplessness: Understanding What Leads to Suicide.'

He added, "India is in the midst of rapid social change. Anger, angst and alienation are the norm. Emotional contact with family has gone down and the aspirational aspect is going up. There's nothing about mental health in the curriculum framework."

Talking about how 35 students die by suicide in India every day, Dr Shetty added that many kids want to speak but there are not listeners. "We are in the midst of a mental health epidemic. We need a campaign. The young are ready to talk but there are no listeners."
He added that in schools, counsellors are not supposed to sit in their rooms. "They are supposed to reach out to students in the classrooms, talking about anger, love and emotions. Eventually, students will come back with their problems. Any illness that has a stigma, you have to reach out to it. When there's no stigma, the person will go to the doctor himself. If you ignore mental health policy and its worth, you will bring down the economic and social status of the country," said Dr Shetty.

RK Verma, the Managing Director of the coaching institute Resonance in Kota, talked about spearheading mental health projects for students to come to Kota to study engineering.

He said that in the age of technology, children get easily distracted and sometimes, their focus on studies gets shifted. In due course, they panic because of the time lost and now they have to catch up. "Financial problems are another burden. Many students are given scholarships, so the financial burden is not there. But there is some other pressure that disturbs their focus on studies," said RK Verma.

Charit Jaggi, Founder and Director of We The Young, who was also a guest speaker at the session, said that there is a dearth of awareness for mental health.
"There's so much content on mental health online but we're not making the genuine effort to sit with a young person and listen to them and their problems," said Charit Jaggi.

He also talked about heartbreak being the second-most important cause of suicide among the youth in India, as per the National Crime Records Bureau.
"Love affairs are the second-leading factor for young people taking their lives. What a young person goes through when they have a heartbreak - one of the most common topics on our platform. They engage with content on how to deal with breakups. This is because there are limited conversations on social media about how young people can deal with heartbreaks. We have minimised their struggles and expect they should be okay with it."

Concluding the session, Dr Shetty said that meaninglessness is the cause of depression. To remove this, mothers and fathers should not just talk about marks, but how their child is doing. "The fact that you listened will help," underscored Dr Shetty.