The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has tied up with the Mental Health Foundation (India) to launch mental health program for students. It has started “Social Health Clubs”, an initiative towards engaging students to ensure their mental and emotional well-being. The program is currently being tested in the capital after which it will be implemented at national level.
About the Mental Health program
Discussing the initiative, Dr. Nand Kumar from Department of Psychiatry, AIIMS, stated: “We aim to reach out to 50 schools (private/government) in Delhi and will later go national with the programme. Besides school students, teachers and parents will also be a part of the program.”
Dr. Nand also revealed that this is going to be a free-of-cost program that will educate students through videos, theatre and group activities. It’s divided into three levels for children from class 6 to 12. The students will be taught about concentrating, handling stress and working with technology in a direct approach.
Common Mental Disorders
It has become common for young adults to seek help for anger management, emotional instability, lack of tolerance, reduced attention span, etc. Depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, taken together comprise Common Mental Disorders (CMD). These are determined by various socio-cultural, economic and political factors. However, such issues are often addressed, merely in the form of “clinical” diagnosis.
Mental Health Statistics
• As per the data gathered by National Mental Health Survey (2016), 1 in 20 people suffer from depression in India.
• According to National Mental Health Survey, 10% of Indian population suffers from CMDs.
• The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare suggest the need for 11,500 psychiatrists while we have only 3,500 of them in India.
• The entire mental health workforce including clinical psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social workers and psychiatric nurses is 7,000 in number. The actual requirement is 54,750, which is quite alarming for the nation.
According to Gracy Andrew, Country Director, CorStone India Foundation, “Mental health services are often forgotten. Unless carefully allocated and regularly monitored, funding for mental health tends to get eclipsed. Given the rising incidence of CMDs in the country, it’s crucial to ensure that public health programmes view mental health as a matter of over-all well-being and not just absence of diseases.”