Highly motivated and an idealist, Santosh (name changed) who belonged to a small town in Odisha made it to one of the best IITs. His goal was to serve the nation after he graduated but he soon realised that many youngsters join IITs only to boost their career and seek their fortunes abroad. This was at variance with his ideals. Besides, the discipline that he was pursuing, mining and metallurgy, conflicted with his interest in sustainable development. He began losing interest in academics. At the same time, he faced emotional turmoil on the personal front when he got separated from his girlfriend from school, who wanted him to be in IIT.
Santosh developed an anxiety disorder and began living in a world of his own imagination. His poor performance in academics was noticed. The IIT authorities got their clinical psychologist to assess him. He had to exit IIT and start therapy under veteran psychiatrist Dr Kisholoy Kumar. His parents were shattered. But to his good fortune, Dr Kumar brought him back on track and then suggested to his parents to take the help of Dr Partho Rao. Santosh began to inch towards normalcy. His family stood by him like a rock. A few years later, he married and now leads a happy family life. His sons are grown up. But he continues to take medication as advised by his doctor.
Amit Ray, a consultant in clean technologies, who knows Santosh very closely, says:
“I firmly believe that had psychological counselling and therapy been available to him at the initial stage, his career could have been set on the right track after due correction. There is no denying that psychometric assessment of young people should determine career options and psychological counselling should be a part and parcel of academic assessments. The goal of education should be to assist the individual to make the right career choices in order to become successful professionals. Timely recourse to treatment is crucial to help people with mental illness.”
India is facing a serious mental health crisis with an estimated 56 million people suffering from depression and 38 million from anxiety disorders, says a WHO report. However, society has failed to understand the importance of mental health. In fact, many people suffering from mental illness live in denial and find it extremely difficult to talk about it because of the stigma attached to it.
Lipsa Routray, a graduate from Bhubaneswar, narrates her story. She says, “I was unaware of mental health issues till 11th grade when I studied psychology. I wondered why we weren’t taught about such significant aspects of our life before. I got in touch with a therapist through a professor at my college. Since then my life has taken a positive turn. My anxiety levels have gone down significantly. I understood that therapy can be helpful. One can visit a therapist to gain a better meaning or understanding of life and self. Therapy can help you grow as a person and overcome your inhibitions. In many cases when people muster up the courage to talk about mental illness, they are often accused of “overthinking” or “fabricating.” Trivialisation of mental health issues is a major problem.”
Smaranika Panda, a counsellor from Bhubaneswar, says, “Keeping in view such societal conditions, it’s natural to be reluctant to even acknowledge the presence of an aberration or a deviant, dysfunctional behaviour or feeling that might be the cause of huge distress within. Thus, seeking help remains a far-fetched proposition. In case of physical ailments, the result of the treatment is noticed instantly. However, treatment of mental ailments takes time to take effect. We grow up in a society where people make direct, negative remarks about mental illness. This public stigma nurtures self-stigma. We hold a feeling of prejudice about one’s own mental illness. It is difficult to identify and recognise a mental ailment as self-awareness and introspection don’t come naturally to us.
“We are hardly ever trained to look within and monitor our thoughts, emotions and feelings. For physical illness, we are able to identify it as parents and elders, right from childhood, keep checking on our health status and try to make us aware in case of any physical aberration, with no shame or stigma attached to it. For instance, there is no shame in acknowledging that a person has a fever.
Let us learn to accept that just as it’s fine to have flu, fever, headache or a stomach ache, it is fine to have apprehensions, unhappiness, discomfort, or anxiety.”
The counsellor further adds that the client’s personality type and awareness of issues is usually the trigger to responsiveness in a counselling session. Empathetic counsellors are well equipped with techniques to help the clients feel comfortable enough to share and discuss appropriate measures to ensure their well-being.
Psychologist Pratap K Rath of Utkal University says, “World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This implies much more than the traditional understanding of health. People mostly do not hesitate to seek help when they are physically sick. But they are hesitant about seeking help when they are psychologically stressed. This is because of the social stigma attached to psychological disturbances. Lack of mental well-being is mostly ignored and described as ‘just stress.’ It is not realised that ‘just stress’ kills far more people and creates hardship in every household.”
Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community. In India, the ratio of trained mental health professionals to the population is estimated to be one for 1 million.
He adds, “In Bhubaneswar, serious efforts at using psychology for mental health support started in 2000 in Open Learning Systems (OLS) in the aftermath of the Super cyclone. In 2007, a Counselling Centre was started on a voluntary basis in Utkal University. The Utkal-OLS approach took shape. Since then, PhD level research work has been done. A number of persons have benefitted from the services provided. The Utkal-OLS approach believes in ensuring mental health through enabling, that is providing all the information about the acts, rules, regulations, facilities and support system as it exists in our set up. It is all done in a highly confidential, non-judgmental interactional space that promotes the right to life with dignity. This approach is being followed by a large number of counsellors working in the schools and other setups and is being refined through case study discussions and suggestions in counsellors’ meets.”
Shabiha Nur Khatoon, OP
