Point of view: Mental health must begin in Community
As we mark Mental Wellness Understanding Month, the 2025 style– ‘Community’– reminds us that belonging to a secure, comprehensive, and empathetic community can be life-altering.
Every May, Mental Health and wellness Understanding Month offers a possibility to stop and reflect on exactly how societies comprehend, resolve and sustain psychological wellness. The 2025 motif– ‘Area’– advises us that psychological wellness isn’t simply a private battle; it’s profoundly social. Belonging to a safe, comprehensive and compassionate area can be life-altering. Yet, in India, mental health and wellness continues to be stigmatized, inadequately resourced and frequently misconstrued, also as expanding numbers fight mental distress.
With over 65% of its population under 35, India’s demographic dividend pivots not only on education and learning and work however additionally on psychological wellness. Communities need to make it possible for inclusion– colleges, workplaces, women’s collectives and youth clubs have to become spaces where psychological health is normalized, supported and prioritized. If neglected, this dilemma may transform a market dividend into a catastrophe.
India’s concern of mental disorder is surprising. According to the National Mental Health And Wellness Survey (2015-16), almost 150 million individuals in the nation need active psychological health interventions. Depression, stress and anxiety, drug abuse, and suicide have seen a steady increase, particularly amongst young people, ladies and marginalized communities, often heightened by isolation and preconception.
India has made step-by-step progression in acknowledging psychological wellness as a public health concern. The Mental Health Care Act, 2017, confirmed mental wellness as a right. The National Mental Health And Wellness Program (NMHP) and district-level treatments aim to boost access to mental wellness solutions, yet these initiatives continue to be underfunded, urban-centric and badly implemented.
In tribal and marginalized communities, where poverty and social exclusion magnify stress and anxiety, services are either missing or aloof to local truths. In addition, the intersection of mental health and gender is often overlooked. Females bear the burden of unpaid care work, domestic violence, reproductive health issues and intergenerational trauma. Yet, they often suppress their emotional needs to maintain social harmony.
Efforts must go into finding solutions that are inclusive, culturally sensitive and community-driven. To respond to India’s psychological health dilemma, we need a plan anchored in community ownership: Integrate Mental Wellness into Main Health and Advancement Programmes, Train Area Health Workers and SHG ladies as Mental Health Ambassadors, Encourage Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies, Promote mental wellness proficiency via community campaigns, Create secure areas for youth and females, Involve males and boys to redefine maleness.
To make mental wellness a lived reality for all, we need to stop viewing it with a narrow biomedical lens and start embracing a more holistic, community-driven approach. India’s social fabric, with its diversity, resilience and grassroots organizations, can become an effective ally in this journey– if we choose to listen, empower, and invest.
Promoting mental health and wellness isn’t just for doctors or psychologists. It entails institutions, families, panchayats, SHGs, and civil society. It requires not just more budgets, but more belonging, not just more psychiatrists, but more concern. As we mark Mental Health and wellness Understanding Month 2025, let us verify that community is the bedrock of health. Let India lead in structure comprehensive areas where minds recover and every person loves self-respect.
Dr Suharita Pujari is Aide Teacher at National Institute of Rural Advancement and Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad. Gracy Andrew is a clinical psychologist and works as Head, Training, at Indian Institute of Public Wellness, Hyderabad
