Why is it that the concern and care that people give to treat an injury, a fracture or even an ordinary cold and cough is absent when it concerns treating the mind? When the mind goes through a distressing time, why do people prefer to suffer in silence?

People prefer to bottle up emotional distress, anxiety, depression, severe stress or suicidal thoughts because they fear rejection and judgement from society.

However, this stigma is one of the reasons why the suicide rates in Keralam — 30.2 per one lakh population — has always been far ahead of the national rate (12.2). According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2024, Kerala recorded 10,865 suicide deaths, marginally lower than the 10,972 recorded in 2023.

On World Suicide Prevention Awareness Day on Thursday , the State chapter of the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) launched ‘Susmitham – Mind Your Mind, Mental Health Matters’, a campaign aimed at making mental health conversations more open so that the stigma around mental health that often prevents people from seeking timely professional help is dispelled. The campaign was launched at Government Medical College, Kollam, by Health Minister K. Muraleedharan.

“This is not just another awareness campaign. We want to normalise conversations around mental well-being, actively dispel the stigma surrounding mental health and shift the focus from mere crisis intervention to encouraging people to seek timely help,” said T. Sagar, president of IPS, Keralam.

Rather than rely on conventional awareness messages or medical terminology, the campaign will use simple, easy-to-understand, accessible communication across print, digital, and social media platforms to help people understand that mental well-being is important for physical health also.

Three pillars

The ‘Mind Your Mind’ initiative is built on three foundational pillars — building community resilience so that mental health and wellness promotion is an activity across life span; dispelling the stigma and silence around mental health; and suicide prevention by teaching people to recognise distress signals and to respond to it appropriately

By actively promoting mental well-being, the campaign seeks to boost public mental health literacy, thus equipping people with the vocabulary to articulate their distress as well as the coping strategies to manage it. The campaign thus lays stress on empowering people to manage their mind and emotions, to de-stress themselves and to take charge of their own mental health through community support or clinical interventions

IPS plans to take up the task of destigmatising mental health through active communications. A YouTube channel is in the making, which will feature candid conversations with mental health professionals as well as experience sharing by individuals. Such direct messaging from individuals dealing with mental health struggles have been found to be one of the most effective ways for challenging prejudices.

While destigmatisation opens the door to conversation, suicide prevention demands actionable protocols. The public should know exactly what to do when someone is in acute distress. The national mental health helpline, Tele MANAS (Dial 14416 OR 1800-89 - 14416) can be accessed round-the-clock, for free mental wellness support and counselling.

“The State already has an infrastructure at the primary care level to provide mental health support. This will be strengthened and our members will offer free services wherever necessary,” Dr. Sagar said.