Students at the Mental Health Santhe at Nimhans in Bengaluru on Thursday | Nagaraja Gadekal
BENGALURU: Initiatives to eliminate regional barriers, the importance of yoga in treating mental illness, ensuring gender equal stance for providing healthcare, online care, suicide prevention and counselling were the discussion points at the day-long Mental Health Santhe organised at Nimhans on Thursday.
The santhe was a conclave of mental health professionals, experts and NGOs, who spoke about the prevention, identification and treatment of mental health. Fifty stalls were set up, said Nimhans Director Dr Prathima Murthy.
Highlighting the issue of the language barrier keeping regional and local people away from the required healthcare, she said it also caused a communication gap in families as they couldn’t understand the condition of their loved ones. With children going back to school, doctors are seeing a rise in cases of anxiety and depression. A Nimhans social work student said students were unwilling to attend school after the pandemic.
The pandemic also led to an increase in cases of domestic violence in women, so the demand for help and care also rose. Dr Supraja TA of the department of psychiatry, Nimhans, said the services available during the pandemic helped women. She said it was important to bring in sensitivity and create a gender-inclusive society.
Health professionals said that such a santhe was helpful as it provided access and knowledge to not only people facing mental health illnesses but to those who could need mental healthcare in future.
