''Mental Health Disorders" need to be de-stigmatized, and the general public need to be educated about the facts and treatment option that are available and made to understand that 90% of the victims are re-habitable as expressed by Dr. Leland M Heller in 'Biological Unhappiness'.
It is worthwhile gaining a little insight into what mental illness really is about. This will enlighten us considerably and change our present attitude to the real needy persons in our society. Strictly speaking no individual is absolutely normal. Everyone has a fad and is abnormal to the other who does not agree to the fad. Fads can become extreme in some persons mostly due to environmental considerations, and very little due to genetic causes.
Mental illness is a disease that causes mild to severe disturbances in thinking, perception and behavior. If these disturbances significantly impair a person's ability to cope with life's ordinary demands and routines, he or she should immediately seek proper treatment with a mental health professional, just as one would approach any other specialist for treatment like to the Physician, Eye specialist, Dentist, ENT specialist, Heart specialist, etc.
With the proper timely care and treatment, a person can recover and resume normal activities. Many mental illnesses are believed to have biological causes, just like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, but some mental disorders are caused by a person's environment and experiences. There are 5 major categories of mental illness, namely due to:
1. Anxiety Disorders--- most commonly observed in people. It is divided into: (a) Phobias - fear for certain things, like phobia for insects, claustrophobia, etc. (b) Obsessive Compulsion Disorder or OCD--is an obsession to keep repeating actions, like obsession to keep washing hands frequently, or repetition of words and phrases over and over.
2. Mood Disorders--–are due to depression and bipolar disorder (or manic depression) symptoms, include mood swings, etc.
3. Dementia--- is the loss of mental functions, including memory loss and a decline in intellectual and physical skills.
4. Eating Disorders (self starvation)---when people have a preoccupation with food, and an irrational fear of becoming obese.
5. Schizophrenia---- is a serious disorder that affects a persons thinking, feeling, and action. These are caused by chemical imbalances and produce symptoms like hallucinations, delusions, withdrawal, incoherent speech, and impaired reasoning.
One would agree with this broad outline of the mental illness, as to how many of us would place one into some of the most common disorders? It would not be the truth if you said that none of these characteristics ever existed in your life at some point or the other. Let me admit, I being a Psychiatrist suffers from mild dementia at times, and have an OCD for cleanliness. So one thing is clear, mental illness can strike anyone, and does strike everyone. It knows no age limits, economic status, race, creed or color. During the course of a year, more than 54 million Indians are affected by one or more mental disorders, which may not always be a very serious disorder like Schizophrenia, but could be a mild form of schizophrenia as well. Therefore as Plato stated “Know Thyself”, one should be aware of oneself, and never hesitate to take a timely treatment when the least suspicion arises, especially in these days of increasing stresses and competition, mental disorders are on the increase.
Therefore it is high time in India we cease to think of Mental illness as a taboo and consider it as an environmental stress related ailment as much as common cold, sneezing, stomach upset are. We therefore need to de-stigmatize this taboo called 'Mental Illness', causing avoidance to acceptance of fact, and neglecting by the person suffering, because of the unfortunate exaggeration blown out of proportion by the media. Comedians make fun of people with mental illnesses, using their disabilities as a source of humor. Also, national advertisers use stigmatizing
Image’s as promotional gimmicks to sell products, and finally the television news programs frequently sensationalize crimes where persons with mental illnesses are involved; often stressing a history of mental illness as the backgrounds of people who commit crimes of violence. But however, ironically, the media also offers our best hope for eradicating stigma because of its power to educate and influence public opinion to change the attitude to accept mental illness as a routine treatable illness and is not an incurable disease.
The American Mental Association formulated 3 principles to eradicate 'The Stigma' before mental illness, and would be helpful for us to follow:
1. Share your experience about mental illness. Your story can convey to others that having a mental illness is nothing to be embarrassed about.
2. Help people with mental illness re-enter society. Support their efforts to obtain housing and jobs.
3. Respond to false statements about mental illness, or about people with mental illnesses. Many people have wrong and damaging ideas on the subject. Accurate facts and information may help change both their ideas and actions.
In this regards I draw a comparison between todays contemporary Britain and India. Although we have the resources, we have not channelized it into the care programmes for these people and still seclude them into corners of our town, and would not really want to do much with them. It was observed by me in Britain, they have definitely progressed a lot in this area of medicine, and the patient recovery rate is definitely very much higher compared to the ratio in our country. They have in Britain a very good network of care programme available, sadly lacking in India. We continue to blame Britain for having given us the custodial rather than the therapeutic method of curing, rather than changing and progressing with the times. Britain has made tremendous advances in this field, while we still consider it a stigma even to be referred to a psychiatrist. Mental illness is just another biological or sociological problem, which needs to be dealt with on time, before it’s too late, by a specialist.
It needs to be understood that it is as natural as cancer or AIDS, but can be worse and a living hell for those who are the victims of this illness, and not treated in time. When we can give all the care and attention to other medical problems, and can go campaigning for them; then its time to look at this aspect of illness with same enthusiasm. We cannot afford to neglect this illness. We need more voluntary involvement, and have a better infrastructure developed to build a better future for every person who is suffering, and who is prone to suffer with the current mode of life of high stress and competitions.
