Mentally Ill People in India: Helpless In The Face of Abuse And Neglect
Mentally Ill People in India: Helpless In The Face of Abuse And Neglect
Mental illness is a challenge to cope with. There are difficult days ahead for those who struggle to handle mental and emotional disturbances and ailments. But for a vast section of India's mentally ill, there is no help or empowerment available. Mental illness has affects millions of people worldwide. A majority of them reside in middle to lower income countries such as India.
A community study under the WHO Mental Health GAP Action Program in India has found that the lifetime prevalence of mental disorders ranges from 12.2% to 48.6%. Official figures in India estimate that around 7% of the Indian population suffers from mental disorders. Of these around 1% suffer from severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. The burden of these disorders is likely to increase further by 15%.
Those blessed with sensitive care-givers may survive the illness, but for many of India's poor and marginalised, living with mental illness is a curse because of lack of amenities and health-care facilities. The mentally ill living in poverty in urban and rural areas are subject to rape, abuse, torture and negligence in India are at the mercy of a system which just does not seem to care.
Adding to the plight of the mentally ill are the negative perceptions that society tends to hold of them. Mentally ill people have been demonised and declared to be possessed. Even celebrities cannot resist the urge to speak badly about deceased mentally ill persons. Social media often uses terms like “lunatic” and “mad” in negative ways. Certain sections of the media also choose to associate mental illness with horror rather than seeing it as an affliction which is not unlike a physical illness.
What adds to the problem is the lack of adequate healthcare professionals to treat the disease. A consultant with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences has been quoted as saying India has less than 1 psychiatrist for every 300000 mentally ill people. The treatment gap and the poor infrastructure make mental illness a real curse and burden for those suffering from it. In 2012, police raided a small unlicensed home for mentally ill because neighbours complained about foul smell. Around 70 mentally ill men were found inside the home chained to windows and sitting in filth. A National Commission for Human Rights report states that the “state of mental healthcare in India most of the mental health institutes or the hospitals are over-crowded with unhygienic surroundings as they are facing serious financial problems to provide adequate requirements.”
Despite all this, the Mental Health Bill 2013 remains just a bill and no solid steps have been taken to alleviate the suffering of the mentally ill.
Statistics indicate that 25% of mentally ill in India are homeless. According to Nimesh Desai of IHBAS (Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences) homelessness among mentally ill people is rampant. Mukul Goswami of NGO Ashadeep has indicated that of 450 mentally ill admitted to their centre, many are women who have been sexually abused and also have diseases such as skin infections and respiratory ailments. As if the stigma of suffering from mental illness was not enough, these women also face physical ailments and sexual abuse inflicting further trauma. The mentally ill face derision and stigma on a scale that has to be seen to be believed. One wonders if successive governments are blind to this fact? Or is their inaction stemming from the perception they have that mentally ill people do not represent a significant vote-bank?
