The genesis of blaming families impacted by mental illness in India

...through a tome which lay in the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India for several years . One could access this tome when one clicked on a link titled 'National Mental Health Programme'

The cover of the tome bore the title,‘Mental Health An Indian Perspective 1946-2003 ‘ by Directorate General of Health Services Ministry of Health and Family Welfare New Delhi.

This tome has a Chapter I ‘Mental Health 2003: The Indian Scene’

Beginning rather theatrically with a quote from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the seasons of light, it was the seasons of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,...’

This quote was followed by the writ,'It all began with a fire…’

Referring to the fire that broke out at a private centre, in a place called Erawady where several people with mental illness who were chained, were charred to death. The writers use the word ‘asylum' for a private centre as if the Indian Lunacy ACT 1912 was still in existence at the time of the fire when it was not.

One of the reasons stated by the writers for impacted families leaving their family members in the private centre at Erawady was that ‘stigma and superstitions associated with mental disorders coupled with unwillingness or inability of families to care for their mentally ill relatives appear to be the main contributory factors.’

What was left out (as if the writers were unaware) was that ‘Public mental health education’ was not taking place when it was one of the Plans of action in the National Mental Health Programme. 

For many in India, reading this chapter whilst giving supportive care to their loved ones with mental illness trying their best to keep despair out of their lives its ...a Chapter I ...of incredulous excuses. 


Reference:‘Mental Health An Indian Perspective 1946-2003'  by Directorate General of Health Services. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare New Delhi.



 

What is the *how* that *they* will be treated in the Advance Directive

... for mental illness, is a legal *lasso* for *knowledge transfer*...right to life?

1.This *knowledge* of *how* is very well known to some *they* a small sub-set of population in India who have been treated/admitted > the *40* Mental Hospitals, Government hospitals, autonomous, mostly private mental health centres offering psychiatric treatments. This small sub-set who have the *knowledge* is a miniscule number of 65 million Indians with serious mental illness.

2. *Knowledge transmission* by the Government of India through intensive awareness campaigns on >*how* *they* will be treated for mental illness to the rest of the population in India> through *awareness campaigns mental illness* in cinema halls, multiplexes, markets, malls, schools, colleges, universities, in its colonies, near water wells and water taps where women congregate, routes in different terrains where women collect firewood, in buses, in trains, on highways, at toll centres where tax is collected,…is ominously missing.

3. *Knowledge transmission* by the Government of India on>*how* *they* will be treated for mental illness to the large set of the population through *awareness campaigns for mental illness* in television, radio, FM .…is not happening.
 
4. *Knowledge transmission* through intensive awareness campaigns Mental illness despite repeated appeals to the Ministry of Health of the Government of India over the years is not happening. 

5. There is munificence in *knowledge transmission* by the Government of India, to the population of India for Cancer, HIV/AIDS, reproductive organs, lungs… 

6. So what is the *how* unknown to most of the people in India 

7. So an *advance directive* mooted, trumpeted, propagated and being compared to a *living will* by some learned people (what moral values they learnt in their process of learning is questionable) for *how* to be treated, when most people in India do not know that treatments exist for mental illness…

8. In a will you *know* what you are bequeathing and to whom. A will comes into force after one’s death. 

9. In an Advance Directive, you are bequeathing your *knowledge* , your *traditional knowledge* , to the entities ... some yet to descend on us, rescue us, with their smooth talk, smiles, words, perfect looks, glamour… and glycerin induced tears. 

10. Advantageous to whom? And to protect …whom? (Yippee… let’s dance…mental illness is exercising legal capacity...contract...right to life...legal lasso)

11. Who would be the *entities*> gaining, making money from the *traditional knowledge transfers* through the Advance Directives? 

12.Which pool of knowledge would this traditional knowledge be going to?

13. SO far no *shared benefits* to those who bequeath *the Advance Directive*, the people of India with mental illness, on the road to becoming mentally ill, attempting suicides… 

14. If an advance directive comes into force after giving it to the >...entities does the Advance Directive translate into giving away one’s Right to Life when one is still alive?


Response to: Tell me please, pretty please before my *father* or *mother* are turned into *nominated representatives* what is the *how* in the Advance Directive.

http://amotherandcaregiverinindia.blogspot.in/2014/11/tell-me-pretty-please.html