Giving Compass' Take:

• There are numerous initiatives in India that are addressing individuals' mental health status in the wake of COVID-19. 

• How can donors think on a global scale when trying to tackle the preceding mental health crisis brought on by the pandemic?

• Read about creatively responding to the current mental health crisis. 

To fully realise the mental health crisis that India faces in relation to COVID-19, one has to begin with recognising the very serious situation that existed even before the pandemic. The government’s National Mental Health Survey reported that about 10 percent of adults meet diagnostic criteria for a mental health condition (ranging from mood and anxiety disorders to severe mental illness). The Global Burden of Disease study estimated that nearly 200 million people in India have experienced a mental disorder, nearly half of whom suffer from depressive or anxiety disorders. India accounts for more than a third of the female suicides globally, nearly a fourth of all male suicides, and suicide has been the leading cause of death in young Indians.

Yet, the government has spent very little on mental healthcare (estimated at less than one percent of the health budget), and this expenditure has been almost entirely on doctors, drugs, and hospitals in urban areas. There is little community-oriented mental healthcare anywhere in the country. Unsurprisingly, between 70 to 92 percent of affected individuals have received no care from any source, of any kind, for their mental health conditions.

One can consider the impact of the pandemic on mental health in two phases: The first is the acute phase, which coincided with the lockdown—the period when the pandemic surged through the country. The second phase will unfold in the months ahead, as the virus starts to get contained, but the economic fallout of the pandemic begins to bite deeper.

There has been a flourishing of initiatives to address this rising tide of mental health problems. Some of these include:

  • Telemedicine platforms
  • Central government initiatives
  • At the state level, noteworthy responses include the ‘psychological support team’ constituted by the Kerala government
  • Several nonprofits, private hospitals, and universities have set up helplines and e-counselling

Read the full article about mental health supports in India by Madhumitha Balaji and Vikram Patel at India Development Review.