The suicide of the actor Sushant Singh Rajput, days after that of his manager, which in turn precipitated a public acknowledgement by Milind Deora, a prominent politician, of his own tryst with depression, has once more thrust mental health into the spotlight. The open and thoughtful manner with which this subject, usually invisible even though it is at the core of our personhood, is being discussed, is very welcome. The imperative now is to understand the nature of mental health distress and what we must do to address it in these troubled times.
I think of the mental health consequences of the pandemic as playing out in two overlapping acts. The first act, which began in March, is characterised by a “pandemic of fear”, largely as a consequence of the profound uncertainties which have overwhelmed all our lives. If one considers the sheer breadth of these uncertainties, from our personal risk to be infected, to why the country is facing a surging epidemic despite the most stringent lockdown in the world, or when life will return to a semblance of what it used to be, or what news we should believe in, to what our economic prospects might look like, it is not at all surprising that experiences of anxiety, fearfulness, sleep problems, irritability and hopelessness have become widespread. These are mostly rational responses of our minds to the extraordinary realities we are facing. That said, for those who were already facing mental health difficulties before the pandemic, these experiences might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
But it is the second act which threatens to morph into a more sinister pandemic in the months ahead. “Deaths of despair”, a term coined by the Nobel prize winning economist, Angus Deaton, have been documented as the reason for the reduction in the life expectancy of working-age Americans following the economic recession in 2008. Suicide and substance use related mortality accounted for most of these deaths, driven by growing inequality, the weakening position of labour, deep polarisation of society and the lack of prospects for the future. By all accounts, the economic recession facing India will be incomparably greater. India not only shares many of the ills of American society, but has to, additionally, contend with colossal numbers of people who are absolutely impoverished and a fragmented mental healthcare system which, even before the pandemic, failed to reach more than 10 per cent of the population. This makes for a perfect storm.
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Source: Indian Express Limited
