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The burden of Mental Illness.


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Mental health is a state of well -being in which the individual realizes  his  or  her  own  abilities,  can  cope  with  the normal stresses  of  life,  can  work  productively  and  is  able  to  make  a contribution  to  his  or  her  community. Mental illness may then be considered a sub-optimal level of functioning, interfering with ones ability to cope with stress, live productively or maintain healthy relationships. Mental health problems affect  all  societies . Mental  illnesses  are  significant  contributors  to  the burden  of  disease.  They lead to loss  of quality  of  life,  economic loss and social dysfunction ,  as well as cause misery to both the sufferers and their families.

As per Global  Burden  of  Disease  report,  mental  disorders accounts for 13% of total DALYs lost for Years Lived with Disability (YLD) with depression being the leading cause.

1 in 20 people in India suffer from depression !

21% of all Indians abuse tobacco in some form.

4.6% of all Indians are dependent on alcohol.

1% of the the population in a recent study reported high suicidal risk, out of which upto 50% had a diagnosable mental disorder.

A recent report by the who suggested numbers could be as high as 36%, That is 43.2 crore people. Treated by around 15,000 mental health care professionals. The  prevalence  of dementia was found to be 33.6 per 1000 by a study done among elders in an urban center in Kerala in 2005. Prevalence of mental disorders in child and adolescent population was 9.4 percent. India has the largest adolescent population in the world, our of which 9.4% or 24.3 million are said to be suffering from. some form of mental illness. India reported, a 27.7 percent increase in the recorded number of suicides between 1995 and 2005 with suicide rate of 10.5 per million  [1n  India,  during  2012,  1,35,445  persons  are  reported  to  have  lost  their  lives  due  to  suicide. In 2010 37% of those who died by suicide had a mental disorder, most commonly alcohol dependence and adjustment disorders.

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