Awareness is key to ending the stigma

There is still some room for improvement. Lack of awareness on mental health is a still an issue. Sometimes, people opt for alternate therapies and this goes on for years. Another roadblock in delivering sound health care is in the form of illegal homes, which are unfortunately mushrooming. Many register as old-age homes and people send their relatives to such places where the old patient is left to lie on mats and sleeping drugs are routinely administered to such mentally ill patients. I am not calling it an abuse, because the intention of such homes may be to offer succour, but it is an act of neglect. 

Lack of awareness on mental health issues and the health care available is at the roots of such malpractices. The government should not allow such places to operate unchecked. There is better awareness now on mental health issues, but we still have a long way to go. The draft bill empowers the mentally ill in a number of ways. On ground, the right to treatment should translate into action. We need community-based health care rather than institutionalised ones. In Tamil Nadu, about 0.5 to 1 per cent of the population is said to suffer from major psychotic illnesses, while nearly 10 per cent of children, adults and elders are affected by one or the other of the entire spectrum of mental illnesses. The good thing is the draft bill is a forward-looking one. We need to bring about more understanding on mental health and eradicate the stigma attached to it.