In the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the year 2022-23, it was announced that there will be a Tele Mental Health Program to support people who have been facing deteriorating mental health, especially amid the pandemic.
This initiative has been praised by Dr Pratima Murthy, Director of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), as per an article published in financialexpress.
She said that the decision could be a “game-changer” for the situation of mental health care in India. Given that the pandemic has led to an increase in the mental health problems of people across different age groups. In the budget she has proposed setting up of 23 tele mental health centres in the country, with NIMHANS acting as the nodal centre.
The article also talks about a mental health survey which was carried out by NIMHANS . The surbey showed that 10.2% of the population suffered from diagnosable mental health problems or substance use disorder.
The good thing is that people have started talking about their mental health problems. It has also been observed that practices like Yoga and Mindfulness can help with such problems. Music Therapy is also a good option that people are exploring.