A community-based rehabilitation model - the Barwani study in rural India

comprising of family members of loved ones with a serious mental illness, chronic schizophrenia

Due to lack of opportunities in the rural areas in India many families are left behind when the heads of the household leave their families in the villages seeking employment in distant towns. When a family member has a serious mental illness the 'family caregiver' takes on the responsibility in keeping the rest of the family together whilst giving care. With serious mental illness it is like a cyclone hitting the family. 

Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents; even children give care to their family members with mental illness in the harshest conditions. These 'family caregivers' are invisible for they are never written about- who knit the social fabric of the family, giving care, support and protection for their loved ones with mental illness.

'The Barwani Experiment’ using a three tier model for the delivery of mental health services had the third tier comprising of family members can become a model not only for the treatment of mental disorders but also for primary healthcare in general state.'- Evaluation of a community-based model in rural India

'Family caregivers' who  have the knowledge and experience in giving care have not even been defined in the Mental Health Care Bill, Bill No. LIV of 2013 as introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

References:

1.National Mental Health Programme. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Government of India.

2.As Introduced in the Rajya Sabha Bill No. LIV of 2013-The Mental Health Care Bill

Public Health Information On Mental Illness not being disseminated in India

And laying all the blame at the door of the families.

Stigma the new doctrine of the influential and the powerful, is being parroted as a universal cause for individuals and families not seeking treatment for mental illness in India a country with diverse cultures. And all the blame is being laid at the door of families. When incomes are lost, education is disrupted; buckling down with serious mental illness and being blamed is a knock-out punch when all the chips are down.

But then does the Government of India really care? ‘Care’ cannot be found in the Mental Health Care Bill, as tabled in the Rajya Sabha with no reference point of ‘Care’, definition of ‘Care’  or ‘Right to Therapeutic Care’ which would adversely impact more than 65 million Indians living with serious Mental Illness in India.

The economically poor dwelling in the villages who are being attributed today to as having no common sense or wisdom were seeking treatment in the 38 Mental Hospitals in India from 1947-1969. The Government of India’s first report on the Statistics of Mental Health in independent India issued in 1970 titled ‘Mental Health in India’ by S K Sen Gupta and D R Chawla stated, “Mental Illness is common among the poorest – 89 percent of the inpatients belonged to the income group of Re 1 to Rs. 100 per month. The incidence of Mental Illness is said to 2 per 1000 of population.”

Unrestrained misinformation, misconceptions and myths on mental illness abound which are increasing by the day are fuelling only fear and ignorance of mental illness. 

Fear of ridicule resulting to sequester oneself and ignorance which is being exploited by the unscrupulous are strangely not being countered by any ‘Public Education Campaigns’ on Mental Health one of the objectives of the National Mental Health Programme and several Five-year Plans.

Answers are never sought as to why such posters as the ones given below specifically made for 'public health dissemination' by the Government of India are not being released in malls, cinema halls, shopping centres, market places or in schools, colleges, universities, libraries, hostels, youth camps....
 

Stigma thrives in an environment of ignorance which is being perpetuated by the Government of India by withholding public health information campaigns on mental illness.

References:
1. Mental Health in India by S K Sen Gupta and D R Chawla issued in 1970 by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India
2. National Mental Health Programme, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India

Mental Health Care Bill India - Serious Mental Illness - Chains - Mothers - Punishment

Establishment -> Evidence-based treatments?
Therapeutic Care? Data!

Not many miles away from where the First Northern Regional Consultation Meeting on the Mental Health Act-1987 was held, lives/or lived a mother Simarjit Kaur with her children, two with serious mental illness. Kuldeep Mann had written about the family in a newspaper on 29 December 2003. How Simarjit Kaur’s husband Amar Singh was shot dead in front of their children and she was beaten up.

Four months later Baljit Kaur, a daughter died by suicide by consuming pesticide. Kuldeep Mann had written what the mother had said, “I spend all my energy taking care of Gursahib and Kuldip who try to run away when they are not being watched.” Her children Gursahib Singh and Kuldeep Kaur are kept chained.

Ten years later, the children appeared recently in a piece titled ‘India fights old myths on mental disorders’ with the picture titled ‘Shackled! -Accompanied by a write- up link of which is given below -

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/8892701/India-fights-old-myths-on-mental-disorders 

...with portraits of people living in the villages of India as having no common sense or wisdom.

More than 65 million Indians living with serious mental illness are not mentioned.

The invisibility of ‘Public Health Education' campaigns on Mental Illness’ one of the objectives of the National Mental Health Programme which was launched in the last century with much hoopla are also not mentioned. 
 
If the current text of the Mental Health Care Bill, as Introduced in the Rajya Sabha Bill No. LIV of 2013, prevails, Simarjit Kaur, would be punished for keeping her children in chains, the children would be taken to the 'Mental Health Establishment' which has no provisions for Serious Mental Illness and no surety for evidence-based treatments and therapeutic care.

Reference: Kids tied to a nightmare's chains Kuldeep Mann, 29 December 2003, Amritsar, Hindustan Times New Delhi