Utkarsha A Singh, PhD

President Ram Nath Kovind issued this grave concern while addressing the inaugural gathering of the World Congress of Mental Health in 2017. Although rapid urbanisation and the riveting grip of an economic boom has made India the fifth largest economy in the world, statistics show that it has one of the highest rates of depression. About one in seven Indians suffer from varying degrees of mental distress, and this number has doubled between 1990 to 2017. How does one quantify the impact of a disease on a country?

One of the essential steps for research on any disease is to study how it affects the population. Scientists study the factors that make an individual vulnerable to an ailment and the number of people the disease affects. These are epidemiological studies and are essential to assess the burden of a particular disease on a region, whether it’s a country, a state, or its districts. Based on these studies, governments can tailor their policies to help the people. These studies also serve as a goldmine of data for scientists, who study the cause and therapeutic strategies for a particular disease.

Like him, many of us try to close our eyes towards negative thoughts by putting up a brave face to the world. Yet, the demon of mental illnesses stays put. Although the need for efficient policies is imperative, why should the government create policies for a non-communicable disease that might not manifest physically?

On the 3rd of September, 2013 residents of Bengaluru woke up to a chilling news headline that read ‘Watch out, there is a Psycho on the loose’. The man in question was M. Jayashankar, a truck driver from Salem, Tamil Nadu, who had twice escaped from prison and was under trial for the rape and murder of 13 women. By the time he was caught again, Jayashankar was accused of 30 cases of rape, murder, and robbery. He was also declared mentally unstable and had earned the sinister nickname of ‘Psycho