Psychotherapist Namrata Jain Sounds the Alarm Bells for India’s Silent but Escalating Self-Harm Epidemic

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 17: India’s mental health crisis is taking a turn for the worse, suggests Mumbai-based eminent psychotherapist Namrata Jain. Along with her team, Namrata has observed growing instances of self-harm across age groups and genders, which she ascribes to unmet mental health needs.

• Namrata’s observations note increasing instances of self-harm across age groups and genders
• She suggests triggers and how self-harm manifests across age groups, pointing to an urgent and immediate need for informed interventions and timely action
• She notes that most alarmingly, this epidemic is going largely unnoticed and the multi-factorial causes indicate a crying need for concerted efforts

Teens are among the most vulnerable to self-harm and the ways in which it manifests in pre-adolescents often go unnoticed – from repetitive minor self-injury acts such as hair pulling or scratching or play that stimulates harm, to somatic complaints to avoid school, the ways in which these tendencies present in young children can vary. Signs such as sudden changes in school performance and social withdrawal must be investigated before they escalate into more problematic outcomes. The behaviours can become more alarming as the child grows older, with more adolescents resorting to cutting, burning and romanticising self-harm through their social media posts. This age group is also prone to eating disorders, and the behaviour can often be peer-led, by way of peer pressure or cohort contagion. Social media too plays a prominent role, as does academic stress.

Among young adults, self-harm presents as non-suicidal self-injury to manage panic, dissociate or numb it, while adult men can supress these tendencies until they escalate to well-formed suicidal ideation. “We’ve found that more men are attempting suicide than women, which raises several red flags about how unsupported they feel in expressing or addressing mental health concerns. In women, we’ve observed higher instances of suicidal ideation and non-lethal attempts, and that self-harm is a means of communicating distress when direct expression is punished,” Namrata shares.

In older age groups, social isolation and chronic health conditions begin to affect individuals’ mental health, further compounded by financial strains and accumulated or unresolved grief. Unless this condition is named and addressed specifically, Namrata believes it will fester and even escalate further, culminating in a nation-wide crisis that India’s mental health infrastructure is ill-equipped to handle. “I call upon everyone – individuals and mental health professionals – to come forward and educate themselves about telling signs. I also strongly suggest reframing mental health care as preventative rather than as a desperate measure. Timely action and support can reframe the narrative entirely and save lives,” she urges.

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