By Faiza Tabassum 

Zooming through life at warp speed, we’re all caught up in our daily hustle, leaving family chats on the back burner. With our lives on fast-forward, it’s like playing detective to spot a loved one dealing with mental health issues. 

According to The Economic Times, statistics indicate that one out of every five individuals is grappling with a mental health challenge, affecting nearly 60 to 70 million people in India with both common and severe mental disorders. It is indeed distressing to note that India holds the unfortunate title of being the global leader in suicides, witnessing over 2,60,000 cases annually. According to data from the World Health Organization, the average suicide rate in India stands at 10.9 per 100,000 people. The suicide mortality rate per 100,000 population in 2016 was 16.5, while the global average was 10.5 per 100,000. The most vulnerable are the 15-29-year-olds, the elderly, and persons with special needs. (Suicide – India, 2019) 

Technology has played a vital role in spreading awareness about mental health. Especially in India, the much-needed awareness took place amidst Covid 19 when most of the citizens were hit with a wave of depression due to social quarantine.(Rangaswamy et al., 2022) 

The change in the mindset and the approach towards mental health shows that technology has a deep effect on people and can change their viewpoint. The world is more globalized than ever, and it is high time we use technology to play against mental illnesses just the way we use it to spread awareness about it. It’s time to move a step ahead and create standardized online applications to help the mentally afflicted person in dealing with self-harm or suicidal thoughts. There are several online applications to help a person, but most are unnoticed and unacknowledged. 

It’s time to use our everyday gadgets (it’s time to use our smartphone smartly) to tackle a critical issue in our ever-changing world – mental health. Let’s creatively and professionally harness our most-used tools to address and ease the growing challenges related to mental well-being. It will be a great help for the people afflicted by a mental health issue as well as to the loved ones and therapists involved in the case. For example, An app for suicide-sensitive individuals with affirmative pop-ups as well as personalized management. Also if there is an app to evaluate the mood of the inflicted person throughout the month or week, it will be easier for the therapist to evaluate the progress of the person. Let us employ our most utilized tools in a creative and professional endeavor to confront and mitigate the emerging complexities surrounding mental well-being. 

As we explore the tricky world of mental health challenges, let’s hope this message goes to people who can make things better in this technological era of Mental Health. We’ve all got a part to play—helping out, spreading the word, and coming up with cool plans. So, here’s a shout-out to everyone with the power to make things happen—individuals, groups, and decision-makers. Let’s team up to build a world where support and understanding are just a high-five away. Together, we can create a community that cheers on and stands by every person on their mental well-being journey.

REFERENCES: 

• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/world-mental-health-day-6 0-70-mn-people-in-india-suffer-from-common-mental-disorders-stigmatisation-financ ial-barriers-prevent-timely-treatment/articleshow/104289268.cms?from=mdr
• Suicide – India. (2019, November 6). https://www.who.int/india/health-topics/suicide
• Rangaswamy, T., Grover, S., Tyagi, V., & Bhan, A. (2022, January 1). How Did the Mental Health Care System in India Respond to COVID-19 Pandemic? Schizophrenia Bulletin Open, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/schizbullopen/sgac043