The burden of mental illness is likely to increase by 23 per cent in India by 2025, a study said.
The study published in Lancet today said according to estimates 38.1 million healthy life years will be lost to mental illness in India by 2025 which is a 23 per cent increase from the data of 2013.
"In layman's terms it (healthy life years lost) reflects the disability caused by mental, neurological and substance abuse disorders.
"On their own, such disorders cannot lead to direct mortality, however, it leads to premature mortality and a loss of healthy, fully-functioning life. A person living with MNS disorder does not lead a full, healthy life and the measure of that is YLD (Years Lived with Disability) and YLL (Years of Life Lost)," Dr Rahul Shidhaye of Public Health Foundation of India told PTI.
Lead author of the study Vikram Patel who is Director Public Health Foundation of India and Joint Director, Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said while India has progressive policies regarding mental health care, the actual implementation of comprehensive community oriented services is patchy and the treatment gaps, especially in rural areas, are very large.
Shidhaye said the overall population growth in India explains a greater proportion of the increase in mental, neurological, and substance use disorder burden from 1990 to 2013 (44 per cent) than in China (20 per cent).
"...However, as we were unable to incorporate changes in prevalence of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders between 1990 and 2013 in our projections through to 2025, the final projections are ab underestimation," he said.
