Healing the mind: Why India must act now on its mental health emergency

The Indian government’s move to appoint actor Deepika Padukone as its first mental health brand ambassador is commendable. It shines a spotlight on the hidden fact that India is fast emerging as the crisis country of the global mental illness epidemic.

Leaving aside Padukone — who has been admirably open about her own battles with depression and the ire of right-wing trolls who find her a red rag — the crisis is real and needs to be urgently addressed.

We have the largest and youngest population in the world, and what we smugly call our demographic dividend is struggling to cope with the stresses of an Instagram-perfect world.

According to the latest figures corroborated by the Ministry of Health and mental health experts I spoke to for this analysis, millions of people in India are affected by mental disorders ranging from autism to schizophrenia. Despite a plethora of progressive laws, such as the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017, the reality on the ground remains dismal.

A psychiatrist I spoke to, who works in the private healthcare system, listed out the challenges. The first and worst is stigma. In a traditional society, anyone with a mental health illness is immediately dubbed a “pagal” (mad) — to be shunned, mocked, and avoided. Families fearing this fate for their loved ones hide the disorders and don’t seek treatment. There is also a huge shortage of trained medical professionals to deal with the growing epidemic, and the bane of India across all fields — inadequate implementation of policies.

A senior official in the Ministry of Health told me that a study revealed the economic impact — the actual cost of mental health disorders — was significant: over a trillion dollars between 2012 and 2025. The National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) found that 11 percent of adults in India suffer from mental disorders, with a lifetime prevalence of around 15 percent.

The biggest problem, even in educated urban families, is the persistence of stigma and traditional belief systems. Socio-cultural beliefs, such as associating evil spirits or past-life sins with mental illness, lead many to seek help from faith healers rather than mental health professionals. I personally know a wealthy, successful nuclear family whose young daughter died by suicide because she had schizophrenia. Even after their other child had been diagnosed with psychosis — clear evidence of a close family history — they put private detectives on her instead of seeking medical help. It only worsened her trauma.

India is also witnessing a depression epidemic among women who are homemakers and caregivers — a problem not fully captured in official numbers. Stressful urban living and loneliness are major triggers, with interpersonal relationships becoming almost non-existent. Psychologists say many women are scared to seek help, fearing they’ll be labelled “difficult” or sent back to their parental homes. In such cases, families often take them to fraudulent babas (spiritual gurus) and quacks, who exploit them instead of to therapists and psychiatrists who can actually help.

Substance abuse and gambling through addiction-prone apps are also a growing menace in India. De-addiction centres are often primitive and filthy, with addicts tied up as a form of “treatment.” Even private centres, where people pay heavily, are not much better. Doctors shudder at the crude therapies on offer.

If you’ve ever wondered about the huge popularity of babas in India — many of whom eventually go to jail for murder and corruption—it’s because they virtually offer an alternative healthcare system, claiming to cure mental illness and addiction. Take the case of Ram Rahim, convicted of multiple rapes and murders. He ran a 500-bed hospital in his ashram, where the poorest and most desperate people came for treatment. He offered castration as a cure, and desperate families forced mentally ill or addicted relatives to undergo it. Women who came for help were raped and exploited, yet such ashrams continue to flourish across India.

Fraudulent babas advertise in mainstream newspapers and TV channels, promising cures for schizophrenia, AIDS, diabetes, and even cancer — when they can’t cure their own ailments. Gullible, desperate people buy into these claims. This, doctors say, is one of the biggest challenges affecting India’s mental health landscape: the enduring belief in faith healing.

Deepika Padukone’s appointment to a cause she passionately believes in may help remove some of the stigma surrounding mental illness and inspire people to seek real treatment. An imaginative campaign urging people to seek help if they feel low or suicidal is the need of the hour.

A Dalit Indian Police Service (IPS) officer recently died by suicide, citing caste-based bullying. If an educated man could take such a step, imagine the plight of the poor and vulnerable. Doctors are alarmed at the spiralling suicide rates, which have risen dramatically since the first report was published in 1961. In 2022, the suicide rate increased by 3.3 percent from 2021 — from 12 to 12.4 per 100,000 population — the highest recorded rate in over 56 years.

We need to reach these vulnerable Indians before they take the final step. It’s time for a loud and meaningful national conversation about mental illness — one that has been swept under the carpet for decades. That’s the only way forward.