Are We Encouraging Mental Illness?

As per NCRB’s (National Crime Records Bureau) report, more than 90,000 young adults died by suicide in 2019 in India.

I was shattered after reading this news. Whenever I read an article like this, I start thinking deeply about what we can do to eradicate this menace from our society.

In my opinion, to understand its core, everyone needs to look into its basic impetus and get grounded in the reality - what leads a person to take a daring step like taking his/ her own life?

The Taboo!

In many parts of India (including my region), it is still considered taboo. Families and parents don’t talk about it openly, and people who take therapies are considered sick. Relatives and friends make fun of it, and it becomes the topic of gossip, which is heartbreaking. Social media apps have multiplied their effect on human minds.

It’s a sad reality that a country like India who invented “meditation” and “yoga” comes under the most depressing countries of the world.

Social Media and Mental Health

A very nicely written article explained that people who spend more than 4 hours a day on social media platforms are more prone to depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts. But imagine a world where instead of getting bullied, people start getting support from their friends rather than feeling low via these applications.

Can facebook introduce a new feature to “call for help” besides the like button? Should it not be their utmost priority especially in these challenging times?

NGOs and healthcare companies can start raising their voices and run more campaigns for awareness of the mental illness. People should start appreciating their peers for who they are rather than taunting or teasing them.

Corporates can also have an immense contribution to this cause, as they can marketize their policies on tv ads. and social media pages to support the mental health of their employees rather than “spending millions of dollars on selling their products only”.

The “like button” on applications like Facebook and Instagram can save thousands of lives!

In this era of digitization, apart from social media apps, there are numerous other tech applications like ‘Not-Ok’ and ‘Whats-Up,’ which help you ask for assistance when you’re feeling vulnerable, with real impact. People suffering from mental health issues are usually reluctant to go to the doctors as many are not comfortable talking about it.

However, to tackle those scenarios, many health care start-ups have now launched applications where a patient can consult a doctor as an anonymous patient until he/ she gets the confidence to show their identity.

In this pandemic situation, when it’s not viable to manually go to the clinics, these virtual consultations are trending and have proved to be a helping hand for people in dire need. I really hope that in the future, robotics and artificial technology should also start participating in cognitive and social therapies so that the world could become a happy place and this invisible menace is fully eradicated from our society.