Recommendations to Increase Awareness and Support for Psychological Disabilities In India
Disabilities need not be physical to produce distress, although those that are seen evoke sympathy from Indian society and receive facilities from the Goan government.
The Goan government grants a pension to those certified as psychologically disabled. But presently the benefit is available only to those with mental retardation, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and a very few, if any, with obsessive compulsive disorders.
India , as a society, needs to accept that several psychological conditions can cause serious disability without any external sign. An example can be a phobia where a person may be house bound due to fear of dying if he ventures out of the house, which is called a panic attack. Likewise depression is a leading cause of disability according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) which says, ‘Of the ten leading causes of disability world-wide in 1990, measured in years lived with a disability (YLD), five were psychiatric conditions — unipolar depression, alcohol use, bipolar affective disorder (manic depression) schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder. Unipolar depression alone was responsible for more than one in every ten years of life lived with a disability world-wide.’
Fortunately Goa has several NGOs which are fairly active in the field of psychological disorders and disability. They too can play a pivotal role to usher in change and relief for the psychologically disabled. Concerted efforts of all stakeholders will push the policy planners to take cognizance of this issue and take appropriate steps.
