The death of 55-year-old Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) on Thursday morning has led experts to raise questions on mental health awareness and interventions at workplace.
Stressing on essential requirements of finding a balance between professional and personal life, Vipul Rastogi, a consultant in neuropsychiatry in Medanta, said every company must take care of its employees by providing a friendly environment.
“Regular leaves and recreation are important to maintain professional and personal efficiency. Keeping in mind the nature of work in security forces, it is extremely important to allow them a space to channel their frustrations, professional or otherwise, failing which they resort to alcoholism,” he said.
Friendly discussions
Dr. Rastogi added that an early identification of symptoms like avoiding social contact, withdrawal, loss of appetite and irritability would be helpful. This is possible by encouraging friendly discussions at a workplace, he said. Consultant psychiatrist at Fortis Healthcare Samir Parikh, is of the opinion that suicides need to be seen as a health epidemic not confined to any particular profession, social strata, age or gender.
“Almost 300 million people in the world go through depression, with extreme cases leading to people taking their own lives. We need to change the social narrative of mental health. When we focus on whether the person who took his/her own life was an actor or a cop or a daily wage labourer, we forget to address the core issue. We need mental health diagnosis as a social policy across workplaces. We need quality mental health care professionals in schools and workplaces. Also, there is a need to break the stigma to allow the patient to seek medical intervention without hesitation.”
He said that with cases of depression, anxiety and other mental ailments acquiring the proportion of a health epidemic, we must bring about systemic changes in mental health care.
Prem Ballabh is survived by his wife and three sons. Sources said he was suffering from mental health issues for the past eight years. His family said he was undergoing treatment for the same for a month at GTB Hospital.
Suicide prevention helpline: Sanjivini, Society for Mental Health, Telephone: 011-4076 9002, Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. -7.30 p.m.
