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MENTAL HEALTH IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD [ESSAY]
AMRITA COIMBATORE, ECE BATCH (2020-2026)
Mental Health in the present times has become an avenue for quick cash for the
software industry. There are over 10,000 apps that solely serve the purpose of
providing quick and easy yet ineffective tips for improving the mental health.
Many fast-food chains take advantage of peoples declining mental health by
fancying with jingles, posters and advertisements that use peoples emotional status
to sell their meal plans such as the “pissed meal”, “blue meal” “salty meal”, “Yaas
meal”, etc., using emotions as a marketing strategy. This tends to increase
misunderstanding among those who are ignorant about the seriousness and gravity
of the consequences of a mental disturbance highlighting the need to discuss
mental health.
“Mental health in an unequal world” is the theme for this year’s World Mental
Health Awareness day. The past two years have not only had a catastrophic effect
on the physical well being of people but also mental well being. The pandemic has
further polarized the population by pushing the poor to more poverty and the rich
to greater prosperity.
Many companies have utilized this pandemic as an opportunity to exploit the
general public by increasing the cost of the basic goods such as medicines, food,
rent, etc, during the times of crisis, just aiming their own profits; resulting in the
widening of the gap in this unequal world. Lack of basic resources due to
unaffordability, lead to increase in anxiety and depression. Many people were
given pink slips as small and middle scale industries, offices and factories closed.
For laborers and daily wage workers the first day of lockdown was the end of their
, 2
daily meal, till some philanthropist donated meal and bed. The families of
economically weaker sections of the community were completely devastated as
there was no work and no food. What followed next was an increase in rate of
suicide (All India rate of suicides was 10.2 during the year 2018 with a drastic
increase in following years. According to the latest National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB) data, India reported an average 381 deaths/day by suicide in 2019,
totaling 1,39,123 fatalities over the year. A 3.4 per cent increase was observed in
suicide rate during 2019 (139,123 suicides) as compared to 2018 (134,516) and
2017 (1,29,887). The rate of suicide (incidents per 1 lakh population) rose by 0.2
per cent in 2019 over 2018, as per the data. The fact cannot be dismissed that
social distancing, lockdown and the economic stress due to the pandemic has
seriously impacted the mental health of the population and also a gap in the access
to healthcare has also widened.
It has to be noted that women and children are most prone to challenges of mental
health, either due to pandemic or in normal day to day life. The pandemic has
actually taken a major toll on this vulnerable group. Due to the lockdown, children
and women are at home throughout the day. This has lead to an increase in
domestic abuse, child marriages and malnutrition due to lack of midday meal
scheme, making the women and children both physically and mentally weak and
the continuation of the vicious cycle of abuse, hunger, poor mental health and
malnutrition.
The next group of vulnerable population is the geriatric population. Mental stress
starts the day on the last day of their retirement. They become stressed because of
being alone, with their children in foreign countries while managing their home,
health and belongings. In the last few years, it can be observed that there was a
huge demand and increase in the shifting of the old people to old age home. This
MENTAL HEALTH IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD [ESSAY]
AMRITA COIMBATORE, ECE BATCH (2020-2026)
Mental Health in the present times has become an avenue for quick cash for the
software industry. There are over 10,000 apps that solely serve the purpose of
providing quick and easy yet ineffective tips for improving the mental health.
Many fast-food chains take advantage of peoples declining mental health by
fancying with jingles, posters and advertisements that use peoples emotional status
to sell their meal plans such as the “pissed meal”, “blue meal” “salty meal”, “Yaas
meal”, etc., using emotions as a marketing strategy. This tends to increase
misunderstanding among those who are ignorant about the seriousness and gravity
of the consequences of a mental disturbance highlighting the need to discuss
mental health.
“Mental health in an unequal world” is the theme for this year’s World Mental
Health Awareness day. The past two years have not only had a catastrophic effect
on the physical well being of people but also mental well being. The pandemic has
further polarized the population by pushing the poor to more poverty and the rich
to greater prosperity.
Many companies have utilized this pandemic as an opportunity to exploit the
general public by increasing the cost of the basic goods such as medicines, food,
rent, etc, during the times of crisis, just aiming their own profits; resulting in the
widening of the gap in this unequal world. Lack of basic resources due to
unaffordability, lead to increase in anxiety and depression. Many people were
given pink slips as small and middle scale industries, offices and factories closed.
For laborers and daily wage workers the first day of lockdown was the end of their
, 2
daily meal, till some philanthropist donated meal and bed. The families of
economically weaker sections of the community were completely devastated as
there was no work and no food. What followed next was an increase in rate of
suicide (All India rate of suicides was 10.2 during the year 2018 with a drastic
increase in following years. According to the latest National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB) data, India reported an average 381 deaths/day by suicide in 2019,
totaling 1,39,123 fatalities over the year. A 3.4 per cent increase was observed in
suicide rate during 2019 (139,123 suicides) as compared to 2018 (134,516) and
2017 (1,29,887). The rate of suicide (incidents per 1 lakh population) rose by 0.2
per cent in 2019 over 2018, as per the data. The fact cannot be dismissed that
social distancing, lockdown and the economic stress due to the pandemic has
seriously impacted the mental health of the population and also a gap in the access
to healthcare has also widened.
It has to be noted that women and children are most prone to challenges of mental
health, either due to pandemic or in normal day to day life. The pandemic has
actually taken a major toll on this vulnerable group. Due to the lockdown, children
and women are at home throughout the day. This has lead to an increase in
domestic abuse, child marriages and malnutrition due to lack of midday meal
scheme, making the women and children both physically and mentally weak and
the continuation of the vicious cycle of abuse, hunger, poor mental health and
malnutrition.
The next group of vulnerable population is the geriatric population. Mental stress
starts the day on the last day of their retirement. They become stressed because of
being alone, with their children in foreign countries while managing their home,
health and belongings. In the last few years, it can be observed that there was a
huge demand and increase in the shifting of the old people to old age home. This
