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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.
It is obvious that the mental health professionals cannot fight this battle alone. The stigma needs to be beaten so that the people who need help can seek help. We need you to join the fight, we need to help people become more aware of mental problems and the help that is available. We can make a difference !