According to a report published in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry, every fourth person in India suffers from mental health problems like anxiety, stress, depression, etc. At the same time, according to a 2021 report by UNICEF, about 14 percent of the children in the country are in the grip of depression. To solve this ever-increasing problem, we all need to be aware of mental health. Many people often feel embarrassed considering the problems of a person suffering from mental illness such as ghost-ghost, insanity, brain attack, or epileptic attack. Suffering from this thought that others may not come to know, people secretly start resorting to witchcraft, witchcraft, and tantra mantras. Many people take it so lightly that they go to the shelter of quacks. Tantrik and charlatans take advantage of this situation, due to which the patient and his family keep getting trapped in their quagmire. The result is that the patient's condition gets worse day by day, in many cases even the patient dies due to depression.
Dr. Manish Kumar, Senior Neurosurgeon of Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, explains that first of all, we need to understand the problems of a person suffering from mental problems as a common disease. When we take any problem as a disease, then we will not get trapped in the grip of Tantrik or Jhola Chaap. We have to understand that accurate treatment of this disease is possible through the use of drugs, psychological methods, or surgery if needed.
Dr. Manish explains that mental illness is a disease related to the brain. Our ability to think, understand and take decisions is controlled by the brain itself. If there is any disturbance here, then there is a continuous decline in the ability to control oneself. We lose our ability to understand what we are doing, what our reaction should be. The problem is that people in our country try to brush off this situation by calling it insanity or a problem related to evil spirits. But this is not the case in Western countries. There has developed a modern scientific understanding of mental illness. There, deep scientific research was done on these diseases, based on which a scientific method has been developed for the treatment of mental diseases. Only qualified doctors efficiently treat patients suffering from mental illnesses. In many cases, doctors spend a lot of time with patients to understand these diseases. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of trained doctors in our country. Due to a lack of trained doctors and lack of awareness, people are forced to go to exorcism, witchcraft, or quacks. People keep getting trapped in their grip and become victims of exploitation.
Dr. Manish Kumar explains that the problem is that no clear transparent policy has been made in our country against those who practice witchcraft. In the absence of a clear policy, in some places, especially in small towns, they get social acceptance for their activities. This is the situation even with Jholap in small towns. To avoid this situation, it is necessary to create awareness in the society. We should organize massive awareness programs on the problems related to mental health. These problems should be discussed openly. The tendency to suppress mental problems should be abandoned. Mental illness should be treated as a common disease. There should be no feeling of hatred, pity, or indifference towards patients suffering from mental illness. They should be seen by a qualified doctor.
