Context

• How to deal with mental wellness challenges in the uniformed forces

What is stress?

• Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand.

What is mental wellness?

• Mental wellness encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences cognition, perception, and behaviour. It also determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making.

Why is Mental Health Important?

• Mental health is more important now than ever before; it impacts every area of our lives. The importance of good mental health ripples into everything we do, think, or say.

Reasons for Persistence of Mental Illness

• Stigma to seek help: The staggering figures are void of millions of others directly, or indirectly impacted by the challenge and those who face deep-rooted stigma, many times rendering them unable to seek help.
• Lack of awareness: This growing challenge in dealing with mental health issues is further compounded by a lack of information and awareness, self-diagnosis, and stigma.
• Psycho-social factors: Institutions like gender, race and ethnicity, are also responsible for mental health conditions.
• Post-Treatment gap: There is a need for proper rehabilitation of the mentally ill persons post/her treatment which is currently not present.
• Rise in Severity: Mental health problems tend to increase during economic downturns, therefore special attention is needed during times of economic distress.

Ongoing challenges in mental wellness regime

• There is a need to expand understanding of the full scope of what uniformed Services and other mental health experts can achieve.
• Stigma regarding mental health both domestically and around the world remains strong.
• There is a lack of trained personnel and healthcare and public health systems in many areas of the world.
• Training needs are broad and reach beyond direct patient care, especially regarding cultural competence, crisis communication, and consultation.
• There is a need for expanded support for the value of multi-professional and multi-organizational integration and collaboration.

Government Policy initiatives

• National Mental Health Program (NMHP): To address the huge burden of mental disorders and shortage of qualified professionals in the field of mental health, the government has been implementing the NMHP since 1982.
• Mental HealthCare Act 2017: It guarantees every affected person access to mental healthcare and treatment from services run or funded by the government.
• Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2017: The Act acknowledges mental illness as a disability and seeks to enhance the Rights and Entitlements of the Disabled and provide an effective mechanism for ensuring their empowerment and inclusion in the society
• Manodarpan Initiative: An initiative under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan aims to provide psycho-social support to students for their mental health and well-being.

What needs to be done?

• Open dialogue: The practice of open dialogue, a therapeutic practice that originated in Finland, runs through many programmes in the Guidance. This approach trains the therapist in de-escalation of distress and breaks power differentials that allow for free expression.
• Increase investment: With emphasis on social care components such as work force participation, pensions and housing, increased investments in health and social care seem imperative.
• Network of services: For those homeless and who opt not to enter mental health establishments, we can provide a network of services ranging from soup kitchens at vantage points to mobile mental health and social care clinics.

Conclusion

• Persons with mental health conditions need a responsive care system that inspires hope and participation without which their lives are empty. We should endeavour to provide them with such a responsive care system.

Mains question

Q. Mental disorders are now among the top leading causes of health burden worldwide, with no evidence of global reduction since 1990. Examine.

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