India is an Asian tiger. Armed with a booming economy, a powerful military, a diplomatic oeuvre so robust other nation-states are scrambling to do business with it, it certainly is one of the biggest names on this side of the world. Thus, it is pretty natural to expect that with such tremendous progress in the fields of Science and Technology, Arts and Commerce, there would be simultaneous progress in the society as well.
Unfortunately, news on that front remains bleak as ever, especially regarding mental illness.
Mental illnesses have been a taboo in India as long as there have been humans here. As the rest of the world moved on from attributing depression to lack of humor and schizophrenia to demonic possession, our populace remained sadly apathetic towards those suffering these invisible ailments. The prevailing notion is that they do this for attention-seeking or escaping responsibilities.
A paranoid man may be labelled rude, disgraceful, arrogant and brutish by everyone around him. Still, not even one will consider the possibility that he may be suffering from inexplicable phenomena. Part of it stems from the fact in this age of social media, many young people with minimal or negligible knowledge of mental illnesses give themselves diseases for the sake of looking cool or in a genuine act of attention-seeking.
There are hundreds of posts on Facebook spreading all manner of misinformation regarding depression, anxiety, OCD, dyslexia, schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder, which in turn removes the attention away from actual patients and shoves them all under the lens of suspicion.
But the most prominent cause of such apathy is twofold; despite a good amount of awareness among the general masses about psychological problems and the establishment of such clinics in India, a large chunk of people still chooses to cling to the age-old notions and norms. Magical stones and pujas are considered substitutes for medication, therapy or counselling.
Families fear to openly discuss a member’s problems because of severe social stigma and false narratives being spun. Thus, a vicious circle of insensitivity and lack of common sense is created, which breeds apathy and self-loathing, which in its own time leads to more people with mental illnesses sealing their mouths shut and continuing suffering in silence.
Common disorders happen due to various factors like genetic, environmental, social and personal defects. Not all symptoms are displayed in an overly exaggerated manner, and not all illnesses have physical changes. As a result, the old Indian distrust of anything that cannot be seen with the naked eye kicks in, and the other stereotypes come into play. Contrary to popular belief, mental illnesses are not extremely rare and do not fade away simply with time.
They have to be tended to for years on end, in some cases for a lifetime, and even then, most of the patients are only partially healed. The family plays a vital role in managing and treating a person who has a mental illness. If the family itself remains aloof and apathetic, it’s a very long spiral down into madness and ultimately possible death.
Thankfully in the twenty-first century, due to extensive campaigns and drives conducted by government agencies and hospitals and a rapid increase in the number of psychiatrists in India, the stigma regarding mental illness is slowly dissipating. But to avoid the mental wrecks which occur due to intense apathy and lack of care, we still have a long path to walk as a society.
We need to understand that it is not to be willed away like a bad day and weigh our priorities. What is more important? Pleasing a half-witted society struggling with regressive customs or the relief of a loved one.
