Lancet publishes public health initiative on mental health in Kashmir

Srinagar, May 03: Hello, this is your friend from IMHANS’ Tele Manas. How can I help you?

Inside a room at IMHANS, phones never stop ringing. For people suffering from depression and anxiety, Tele Manas is nothing less than a lifeline. From drug abusers to suicidal person, the counselors at Tele Manas work round the clock to cheer up people who are lost hope.

Dr. Arshad Hussain

A study about mental health and the work initiated by IMHANS Tele Manas has been featured in `The Lancet’. Titled `Reducing the mental health treatment gap in Kashmir: scaling up to maximize the potential of telepsychiatry’, the study was conducted by Dr. Arshad Hussain, Dr. Bhupinder Kumar, Dr. Manasi Kumar, and Dr. Fazle Roub.

“Since its launch on November 4, 2022, the center has received 4000 calls as people with mental illness from every district of the Union Territory are seeking professional help.  These numbers convey the enormous demand and needs but also show that Tele Manas is acceptable to people and they are initiating contact with mental health providers. The current step is expected to ensure cost-and-time-effective and comprehensive services for the poorly served population of the region, strengthening mental health, an area that has been historically neglected in Jammu and Kashmir,” the report said.

Women comprise 70 percent of the callers. Off late, males too have started seeking help from the counselors. Tele Manas has received thousands of distress calls mostly from women either with underlying mental health problems or distress arising from immediate stressful causes like domestic violence, death in the family, illnesses, or other issues.

 “We have received approximately 300 calls from people to self-harm. We have been able to wean them away. We know that self-harm is a very complex problem and a mere pause is not enough, we need to treat underlying mental health issues in many of them to save lives, we have been able to link most of them to the nearest mental health services,” said a doctor.

IMHANS Tele Manas is one of the centers of excellence chosen for the purpose. It provides free round clock tele mental health services via  Tele-Mental Health Assistance and Nationally Actionable Plan through States (Tele-Manas).

“Our Tele Manas center has trained psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and counselors available through audio tele networking 24*7 for patients in distress. In case of need, patients are guided to locally available government runs mental health centers. With an estimated 1 crore mobile phone users and 10 lakh smartphone users, Tele Manas is expected to reach a large portion of patients, eventually reducing the treatment gap,” he said.