Stigma of mental illness stops 90% of people from seeking professional help.
Although more than two lakh people in the city suffer from some form of mental illness, a meagre 10% seek psychiatric treatment, say doctors. This means only one in every 10 patients with mental illness have sought help, a shocking figure that points to the resistance among people to seeking treatment as well as low awareness about mental illnesses.
On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, DNA spoke to leading psychiatrists, who said that despite advances in medical science, people are afraid or have reservations to enter a psychiatrist’s clinic.
Dr Hemant Chandorkar, consultant at Ruby Hall Clinic, said that raising awareness and reducing stigma on mental illness should be the focus of government and private agencies working in this sector.
“Even today we get patients who have tried all means of treatment like going to a general practitioner, neurosurgeon and even witch doctors before they walk into or are referred by someone to our clinics. In this group too, it is the younger population that is more proactive in seeking help and a large percentage of practice involves younger patients suffering from stress, anxiety and depression,” he said.
Agreeing that the younger generation is more open to psychiatric treatment, Dr Swapnil Deshmukh, consultant at Joshi Hospital, said Pune has a large population of migrant students who are quite regular in seeking help.
“These students stay out of home and that’s why their emotional support network — family and friends — might not be so strong. That’s why we see a lot of these students seeking help from psychiatrists for stress either due to work, studies or relationship issues,” he said.
He said youngsters do research on the Internet and try to correlate their symptoms with what they read and decide on self-medication. “Unfortunately, it is not so difficult to get drugs, if you so wish, without a prescription. What happens is that in psychiatry there is no readymade formula for medication, unlike other streams where if you have malaria, one type of treatment is given. Our line of treatment depends on various socio-economic, mental and biological factors and this kind of experiment of using the Internet has backfired and I have seen such cases,” he added.
Dr Alka Pawar, director of Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health (MIMH) said awareness is slightly higher than it was a few years ago, but there is scope for improvement. “The situation isn’t so bad either, but it is true that awareness is required in general, especially so that people approach psychiatrists at an early stage.
The younger generation is indeed more open to seeking help and also parents have become aware that even a school-going child that shows symptoms of disturbances can need help. Also, psychiatric help is not just sought by people suffering from severe forms of mental illness but also those needing relationship counselling, imbalances at work place, which is a good sign,” she said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}