Many people are suffering from mental disorders in India

According to research by ICMR published in The Lancet Psychiatry Journal, there has been a spurt in cases related to mental disorders in India in the year 2017. It was told in the report that one out of 7 people in our country is suffering from a common mental disorder. Due to this, the burden or risk of diseases has increased in the people.

In the first comprehensive study conducted by the researchers, it has been found that 4 crore 57 lakh people suffer from depression and 4 crore 49 lakh people suffer from anxiety in the country. Research shows that in the last few years, there has been an increase in cases related to mental health disorders in India.

Researchers of ICMR found that in the year 2017, according to an estimate, 19 crores 7 lakh people (one in seven people) were suffering from some kind of mental illness, such as -

• Depression
• Anxiety disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Bipolar disorder (recurrent changes in mood)
• Idiopathic

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Professor Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR, said, “We have found that India has the highest incidence of depression among adults with increasing age. Depression accounts for 33.8 percent of all mental disorders, while anxiety accounts for 19 percent.

Apart from this, he said that 10.8 percent of cases of idiopathic developmental intellectual disability, i.e. without any reason, lack of mental development, and 9.8 percent of cases associated with schizophrenia have been found.

Not only this, Professor Bhargava said that due to depression, suicide cases have increased in India. So dealing with them is a big challenge. Not only this, suicide cases due to depression are more among women than men.

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According to Professor Lalit Dandona, director of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative, the prevalence of mental disorders doubled between 1990 and 2017. Therefore, to understand the burden of mental health, the researchers studied the available data sources (state-specific scientific) on mental health problems in India.

The study shows that among psychiatric disorders during childhood and adolescence, the risk of idiopathic developmental intellectual disability (without any reason, mental development) was 4.5 percent, while the risk of conduct disorder (change in mood or behavior) was 0.80 percent, attention-deficit Hyperactivity disorder (decreased ability to concentrate or inattentiveness in children or adolescents) was 0.42 percent and autism spectrum disorder (failure to work together in different areas of the brain) was 0.40 percent.

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Dr. Rajesh Sagar, author of the study and professor of psychiatry at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), says that mental illness is on the rise in India. So, the time has come that we have to improve mental health services. Create awareness for this. Along with this, better treatment will have to be provided by removing social evils.

According to Dr. Rajesh, parents, and children must be educated. During the study, he and his team found that the northern states of the country had more mental disorders during childhood and adolescence. At the same time, compared to this, the problem of mental disorders was found more among adults in southern states.

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Overall, a mental disorder is one of the biggest problems of the present time in the country. Everyone from children to adults can be affected. How fatal mental illness is can be gauged from the fact that it reaches a level that causes loss of life (suicide). Therefore, recognizing the symptoms of mental illness, there will be a need for better treatment in this situation.

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