{"id":34679,"date":"2018-10-31T12:49:37","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T07:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34679"},"modified":"2018-10-31T12:49:37","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T07:19:37","slug":"knitting-a-safety-net","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/knitting-a-safety-net\/","title":{"rendered":"Knitting a safety net:\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/tp-opinion\/knitting-a-safety-net\/article19831000.ece\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Knitting a safety net<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Context:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rising cases of mental health disorders need a more proactive approach from the government. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Mental illness in the context of India: <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 2017 <\/span><b>World Health Organisation report<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, on depression says that almost 7.5% of Indians suffer from major or minor mental disorders that require expert intervention.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>According to the report:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Depressive disorders<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness, and poor concentration.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Anxiety disorders<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> refer to a group of mental disorders characterized by feelings of anxiety and fear. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>What are the rising factors that affect the mental illness in India? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>With time, \u00a0reasons for rising cases of mental illness in India are:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a fast-paced lifestyles, \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">high stress \u00a0because of complexities of living,a rural to urban shift<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a breakdown of support systems,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">challenges of economic instability.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Increased workloads<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Rise in unemployment<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Poverty <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rising cases of natural calamities<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How should the mental health care in India be strengthened?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>For an overall strengthening of mental health care in India, the government should eradicate the following barriers:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scarcity of mental health services in the public health services.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poor utilization of available services by the patients in the rural areas. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poor understanding of psychological distress.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Limited acceptance of modern medical care for mental disorders among the general population.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Social stigma:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to the stigma associated with mental disorders, nearly 80 per cent of those with mental disorders had not received any treatment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, Indians should be able to <\/span><b>access healthcare without humiliation <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of proving their financial status or bitterness of social stigma.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Within families and across social groups, <\/span><b>a mutual sense of responsibility and affiliation<\/b> <b>towards each other<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> must be reinforced, through rituals and culture, social training or self-learning.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a <\/span><b>need to constitute a national commission<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on mental health comprising professionals from mental health, public health, social sciences and the judiciary to oversee, facilitate support and monitor and review mental health policies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Targeted social interventions such as the disability allowance, mandated by the Mental Health Care Act and the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, <\/span><b>must adopt an integrated single window health and social care system <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that will minimize cumbersome bureaucracy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The Mental Health Care Bill, 2016: Key features:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Statements of Objects and Reasons to the Bill, state the government ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007. \u00a0The Convention requires the laws of the country to align with the Convention. The new Bill was introduced as the existing Act does not adequately protect the rights of persons with mental illness nor promote their access to mental health care. \u00a0The key features of the Bill are:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Rights of persons with mental illness<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every person shall have the right to access mental health care and treatment from services run or funded by the government. \u00a0The right to access mental health care includes affordable, good quality of and easy access to services. Persons with mental illness also have the right to equality of treatment, protection from inhuman and degrading treatment, free legal services, access to their medical records, and complain regarding deficiencies in provision of mental health care.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Advance Directive<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A mentally-ill person shall have the right to make an advance directive that states how he wants to be treated for the illness during a mental health situation and who his nominated representative shall be. \u00a0The advance directive has to be certified by a medical practitioner or registered with the Mental Health Board. \u00a0If a mental health professional\/ relative\/care-giver does not wish to follow the directive while treating the person, he can make an application to the Mental Health Board to review\/alter\/cancel the advance directive.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Central and State Mental Health Authority<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>These are administrative bodies are required to <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">register, supervise and maintain a register of all mental health establishments,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">develop quality and service provision norms for such establishments, <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">maintain a register of mental health professionals, <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">train law enforcement officials and mental health professionals on the provisions of the Act, <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">receive complaints about deficiencies in provision of services, and <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">advise the government on matters relating to mental health. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Mental Health Establishments<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every mental health establishment has to be registered with the relevant Central or State Mental Health Authority. \u00a0In order to be registered, the establishment has to fulfill various criteria prescribed in the Bill.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Mental Health Review Commission and Board<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Mental Health Review Commission will be a quasi-judicial body that will periodically review the use of and the procedure for making advance directives and advise the government on protection of the rights of mentally ill persons. \u00a0The Commission shall with the concurrence of the state governments, constitute Mental Health Review Boards in the districts of a state. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Board will have the power to<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>register, review\/alter\/cancel an advance directive,<\/li>\n<li>appoint a nominated representative,<\/li>\n<li>adjudicate complaints regarding deficiencies in care and services,<\/li>\n<li>receive and decide application from a person with mental illness\/his nominated representative\/any other interested person against the decision of medical officer or psychiatrists in charge of a mental health establishment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b> Prohibiting electro-convulsive therapy<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A person who attempts suicide shall be presumed to be suffering from mental illness at that time and will not be punished under the Indian Penal Code. \u00a0Electro-convulsive therapy is allowed only with the use of muscle relaxants and anaesthesia. The therapy is prohibited for minors.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Knitting a safety net:\u00a0 Context: Rising cases of mental health disorders need a more proactive approach from the government. Mental illness in the context of India: The 2017 World Health Organisation report, on depression says that almost 7.5% of Indians suffer from major or minor mental disorders that require expert intervention. According to the report:&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/knitting-a-safety-net\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Knitting a safety net:\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704772701},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34679\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}