Mental Health for All by Involving All | Vikram Patel | TED Talks
Nearly 450 million people are affected by mental illness worldwide. In wealthy nations, just half receive appropriate care, but in developing countries, close to 90 percent go untreated because psychiatrists are in such short supply. Vikram Patel outlines a highly promising approach — training members of communities to give mental health interventions, empowering ordinary people to care for others.
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47 Comments
are you over it now?
Actually, largely I am. I quit my antidepressant a few months back by myself, and I'm doing OK. I still get short bursts of being depressed, rarely I get some anxiety symptoms, but I largely able to think myself out of them. My future is a motivation rather than some dark hole now.
I believe that mental illnesses should receive the equal amount of attention as any physical illness receives. Both are closely linked and may mediate/moderate one another. Many developing nations still require the educational phase in order to successfully implement interventions. The days of asylums where the 'mad' were simply locked away and seen as incurable have widely been eradicated in Britain for example; however this does not apply to nations such as India where mental illness related stigmas are prevalent. Also, as Mr Patel highlighted, a lack of resources inhibits treatment. Thus, it is unlikely that mental health awareness campaigns would even be contemplated.
"There is no definition of a mental disorder. It’s bullshit. I mean, you just
can’t define it.” “These concepts [of distinct mental disorders] are virtually impossible to define precisely with bright lines at the borders.”-Dr Francis Allen, creator of the DSM-IV
The DSM5, pharma giants, and psychiatrists has replaced the bible, the crusades and the inquisition … I would prefer having been burned at the stake myself … instead of living the slow death of coercive psychiatry … stop labeling people and further traumatizing the already traumatized – why do they not look for what is right about the people that become labelled … I do not believe creation, evolution or otherwise would allow for all this "illness" – individuals with unique "traits" are told their "traits" are symptoms, flaws, shortcomings – the labeling, medicating and lack of insight on the part of the practitioners is the only real problem here … only branch of "medicine" that totally negates the experiences of it's "patients" by pretending to know the person better than they know themselves … I have experienced racism, sexism – but this – this stigma is a killer and it is all just in the mind of the psychiatrist who claims to know what is best even when it hurts you!!!!!
Stop calling everything an illness would be a good start …
Well said Aaron Pinkney. The key being "however this does not apply to nations such as India where mental illness related stigmas are prevalent. Also, as Mr Patel highlighted, a lack of resources inhibits treatment. Thus, it is unlikely that mental health awareness campaigns would even be contemplated."
Very nice Dr. Patel.
it's so good and nice presentation .
Had a cousin with autism that died because he could not communicat properly
Excelente presentación cada uno tiene parte de responsabilidad en esta tarea
A problem with this approach is that people weakened by any illness can become victims to predators if the latter are left unchecked. Not only that, technical knowledge is not the only knowledge which needs to be imparted to the caregivers; a culture of compassion and respect for the people in need has to be fostered. Even health care professionals often fall far short of the ideal on this last criterion. Preying on the weak seems to come naturally to most people. And ganging up on people who do not fit into the dark corner that they have been inescapably pushed into by "life" seems to be a fun sport. Here is something left unexplored that warrants further inquiry.
This is an inklusive approach I was looking for. Thank you for sharing!
450 million people worldwide may not have clean drinking water, food or any medical care. Trust me the Western world with its relatively superb physical health care in terms of life expectancy has experienced a severe decline in terms of mental health. This is cultural and in theory a consequence of more leisure time a massive shift societally because of increased prosperity.. There is little evidence that this model is effective in western society and if so only a response to economic and cultural factors. To even consider it in other cultures is absurd. Please
Sorry. don't misunderstand. Mental health is important. Believe me the average person in the UK has a dim view of the analysts here. . Mental health care is remote in the West. It's a cash generator.
The S in Sundar stands for Simplifying the message.
Can simplifying the message lead to a difference psychological diagnosis?
For example, if you are simplifying the message for depression; Are you taking away some of the symptoms of depression when you are screening a patient? Or are you changing medical jargon into layman's terms? The number of depression symptoms a patient has will effect if a person is diagnosed with major depression and hence effect their treatment for the mental illness.
thank you vekram
Mental health, something many people know about but do not truly understand the complexity and seriousness regarding the effects it has on a person. I have learned about mental illnesses prior to this video but wanted to know more. I was surprised to hear that 400-500 million people around the world are estimated to be suffering from a mental illness. Mental illness is the leading cause of disability in the world. Depression itself is the third leading cause of mental illness. This video talked about the importance of proper health care given to people with mental illness rather than being turned away like so many have been. The difference in the quality of care received by a person with mental illness is why they tend to have shorter life spans compared to people without mental illness. It’s proven that people with mental illness live shorter lives than people who aren’t suffering from one, the life expectancy gap is as much as 20 years in developed countries and increases in developing countries. I enjoyed how the speaker incorporated the importance of life quality in relation to proper health care. DALY, also known as disability adjusted life year. What this is, is a period of when a person first acquired an illness and began living with it on a day to day basis and has had to adjust his normal life routines to try and deal with his/her mental illness. At an international level we need to begin offering easy access to care at an affordable level. Giving better health care to people with mental illness is fundamentally empowering as noted in the video. It also allows people to become more effective in their everyday lives and lets the person become a guardian of their own health. People suffering from a mental illness should receive quality medical care and it’s important that medical professionals begin to bridge the gap between what we already know about mental illness and learn how to successfully apply it to the every day world.
hello doctor i am 17 years old, i watch a lot of prank , funny , videos online and i dont know why i dont feel happy with my buddies, parents , or anyone, sometimes i feel like quitting everything, please let me know is it because of my online attatchment or what, i also get very easily upset by any little thing, i cannot cope up with bad things, even if i watch movies i get influenced everytime, my life is ruined, i want to be happy, please suggest me strong so i can get back happy and be strong in coping up with negative vibes. please reply fast
I feel it's more than just counselling ect in this model of public health in the sense that as a community your supportive and inclusive that helps people recover from MI. In fact it makes people feel valued both the practitioner and the patient. Well done 👍🏻
Thank you for expressing your points of views regarding mental health. In the past years, I have been more aware regarding the increase of the concern of these conditions in our society. It is still a taboo topic in some occasions and, I feel, that we are not educated to address them when we are growing up in high school or in the workforce. I was not aware that mental illnesses, especially suicide, had such a large amount of influence around the world, especially younger ones. I do question the classification of several conditions or at least how severe they are, because of my own lack of awareness; such as not seeing the impact of them in my community. Why people with mental illness do not receive the same treatment as someone with the same condition but without a mental illness? I believe if because they are afraid to use their resources to cure half of the problem or because they are dismissing the relevance or importance of these health problems. I was surprised to listen that there was not that many psychologist or psychiatrists, especially in India. The research that your coworkers and yourself did was fascinating and that is why I would like to see more programs worldwide, with not only with mental illnesses, but also other common conditions like arthritis or pneumonia. I strongly agree with your view on educating the community in how to handle or treat mental health problems; it would decrease the suicide and cyberbullying, for example, in the current youth and could break the chain of harassment for the future. I enjoyed your explanation about "sundar" and I do want to refocus it to the "s," because the simplification of these health problems is critical specially because not everyone has the medical knowledge or social awareness to comprehend the complicated explanations. I recently watched a video about why the healthcare cost are so expensive in the United States and I admire your approach in how bringing back the healthcare back to the communities will reduce the cost of care as a whole. If I could go to a mentor or community center when I feel depress or sad, instead of the doctor who might prescribe medication, it will drastically reduce the cost and the consumption of medications.
thank you for making this. My story is a living horror story.. I have BPD, but also have illnesses and disabilities. I have a lazy bowel and it perforated in 2011. When I went to A and E I was disbelieved and told that I was making up my pain and symptoms to get attention. I got iller and iller over 5 days on a ward, and they refused me a CT scan and tried to discharge me and send me home. I Had pain that I didn't think humans could possibly endure. My pain and my fear was primal, I* made animal noises. I knew I was dying but noone believed me.
On day 4 they rang my friend and told her they were sending me home and she begged them not to, on They agreed to discharge me in the morning. On day 5 I was so seriously ill I vomited faeces and it was the most terrifying thing ever. It was only then the medics realised I was dying . They ran my trolley into theatre and gave me a colostomy then put me in ICU where I was now fighting for my life with septic shock. I slipped into a coma and was on life support. They took my friends into a room and told them I was not going to survive and they asked them to turn off the life support. I managed to breathe but I fought for every breath, every heartbeat, whilst hallucinating horrific torture. I pulled through after a month in ICU, but was in hospital for 3 months.
I then had to deal with the fact that I now had my bowel hanging out of my belly. it was the most disturbing thing to deal with, with pre existing mental illness. I developed severe PTSD from, the medical negligence, with a terror of dying, and a fear of being disbelieved again, and a phobia of hospitals and medics.I had the bag for 2 1/2 years, then an ileostomy for a year. I have had another 5 major bowel surgeries in the last 5 years, to fix the resulting damage and I'm on thew urgent list for my 6th. My life has changed irreversibly. I got rid of the bag but I live with faecal k incontinence,m and I'm only 45.
I t took 5 years to get an apology off the hospital for the medical and psychological horror they have put me through for 5 years. What I want is for what I went through to never happen to another mentally ill patient in a UK hospital again. There is no excuse.. A bowel surgeon may not know what the different mental illness are and how they manifest, but there is a mental health team at that hospital.. all they needed to do was call and ask whow does BPD manifest, if they had done that simple task, my health and my life would not have been ruined. They had misconstrued BPD with munchausen's syndrome. Nowhere in the DSM5 does it say that people with BPD make up physical symptoms to get attention. Another excuse that they gave was that they thought I had learning difficulties or was in psychosis, because I was so delirious because I has sepsis. They asked my friends many times if I had these conditions and my friends told them that I didnt, that I have a degree and can communicate perfectly.. I WAS PHYSICALLY ILL!!! But, does that mean that if someone has any form of mental illness, including psychosis or learning difficulties, that makes them exempt fro ever getting physically ill? IT IS UTTER INSANITY!!
They caused me more damage as every surgery that was planned got cancelled multiple times, and I got told that because the NHS is in such crisis, they refused me planned surgery and told me they would only operate when it became life threatening, so they forced me into 3 more life threatening medical emergencies where I got very ill and had to have a much more complex surgery with a month long admission with severe post operative complications. Thi8s added layers of both physical damage and psychological.
Last summer, when I got the apology, I proposed fighting to make the system safe for mentally ill patients who also have a physical illness. The chief executive of the hospital agreed to make changes and was going to keep me posted wit h them, but they never did. In those 5 years, I was refused any mental health support whatsoever, for the BPD and the PTSD.
Not only was I very ill, fighting the hospital , I also had to fight the mental health system for 5 years, desperate to get some help for the complex trauma I was experiencing, but got told that I was coping when I wasn't and denied help.. It took until last summer for me to finally be able to access mental health support. But the trauma has become so ingrained that I feel there ius no hope of recovery.
Now my hospital is in permanent "special measures" so I will be forced to go through more multiple cancellations and be forced into another medical emergency.It is harrowing.I flagged up that the NHS is focussing on cutting money short tertmn, but the long term implications of this is not saving money!! The surgery is more complex and risky and instead of a 5 day admission, it costs them to keep me in for a month each time.
I want to fight for change but it is impossible!! I don't know how much more my body and mind can take!
The final point I had to make in the meeting was the treatment the mentally ill get when they are in a physical hospital. It is like we are meant to take off our mental illnesses at the door, like a coat, and put them on again when we leave. We cannot cut off out minds and bodies!! The treatment and attitudes of the nursing staff is that you are being difficult or obstructive or attention seeking if you're scared or having a panic attack. I have tried writing letter before I am admitted, explaining my BPD , PTSD and hospital phobia, but it gets ignored.. We need education about mental illnesses in our hospitals and we need it now!!! All it takes is a phone call.
i am now on my 5th incisional hernia, in constant pain, no core muscle strength that has accelerated my arthritis in my spine . I have to have a care team. If I had been scanned and believed on day 1, I wouldn't have almost died from sepsis and the damage would have been significantly less.
If anyone has any ideas as how to fight this further to prevent the serious injury and inevitable deaths that will occur, from denying the mentally ill access to physical medical care, and from all the medical emergencies the NHS is forcing people to endure year after year, please get in touch with me. THIS BARBARIC TREATMENT HAS TO END!!!!! .
This is not happening in a 3rd world country.It is incomprehensible that this negligence is happening in the UK, and it is so hidden.
On the contrary it is training that destroys people's innate abilities to heal each other mentally. All you need to do is give ordinary people the confidence that they can help people with mental health issues. Such people would be just as effective as psychiatrists who are mostly average.
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Mental health is a thing. Yes. The issue is the stigma we place on it. No one seems to want to speak of it. The world cup seems to be the distraction in June 2018, yet mental health has affected humanity since…well, I can't pin point the date but you get the idea.
Maybe it needs to be renamed?
Not sure what that is, but we all go through s***, and some of us deal better than others. It's up to those of us who have conquered…something, anything, to speak up, support, and inspire others who may not be willing to share. If you've been through…'something', you can feel it in another, no words needed. Thats the power of simply being human lol. So take action! Be Kind, pass it on.
People with mental health illness not listen to at all this needs to change in the health profession, every doctor in the world doesn’t know how to treat every patient because doctors aren’t always right, i’ve understand that and I am patient, unlike the doctors will never admit to being ill, as the two afraid , but a lot of doctors suffer from OCD, mental illness can kill dramatic, patients don’t listen to
One of the amazing presentations i ever come across, addressing the problem directly and provided the solutions. Thanks Prof Vikram Patel
Very very open minded
Discrimination.
Involving the patients and their relatives in the movement is a good move. Empowerment method.
Yes I have been self advocating for mental health. But the opposition I have seen comes from the medical community. The hospitals, their staff, doctors who run these hospitals. They must go back to their medical schools and learn psychiatry. It's also being speculated that psychiatric nursing students know more about psychiatry than MBBS doctors. Would that create quacks from the nursing community to fill up the shortage of 1, 46, 500 psychiatrists in India. At one point of time in India, psychiatry was removed from MBBS curriculum. That's how much our country cares for psychiatry.
Yes indeed♥️
Medical professionals like doctors affected by mental health issues can turn out to be the best advocates for this mission.
8:57 Simplify the message. Strip off tough jargons.
UNpack the treatment
Deliver it where people are
AFFORDABLE
Reallocate Role of Capacity building & Supervision
depression is 3rd leading cause of disability.
disability = making people unable to work &/ lead normal life.
Daily Sun ☀️Gazing for ~5 minute
within 2 hour window of Safe Zone, after the sunrise can help a lot in depression.
– SunYogi Sw. Uma Sankar (Bengal,🇮🇳India)
Very well said, Appreciate your efforts to keep on moving with the awareness drives.
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autism isn't a mental illness…
I'm a psychologist practising in Mumbai. As much as I agree with this even ten years down the line, one important issue is despite resources, people not accessing them due to stigma, shame, taboo and cultural conditioning. The obsession of physical health and giving the mind step treatment is a real existent evil. Not enough emphasis on the mental well being and mind body connect further deepens the divide. I hope we see a day when people start giving enough if not more importance to mental health!
Bonsoir, Merci pour le partage. Très émouvant et pragmatique
Religion is a big mental health tool which is very smart and highly advanced concept which was developed thousands of years back itself,
The concept of God and belief in God really prevent many many many many mental health issues in illeterate, uneducated and immature people
It gives immediate relief and a hope for people,
Especially stress and anxiety issues are completely preventable with belief in God,
Is Autism a mental "illness"?!!!
We need such shift in Ukraine now as many people are affected by the war and it's difficult to find psychological help.
Absolutely groundbreaking!
Hi Vikram, Gauri, Ashok – back in 1993 – in Zimbabwe- so proud of your path well trodden. I’m still in that ED!! ❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏Caroline xx
❤️ amazing