Talking Shop: Depression bomb

I see the bad moon a-risin';

I see trouble on the way;

I see earthquakes & lightnin';

I see bad times today...

— Creedence Clearwater

Clearwater is not a friend but has got it right, about bad times coming on the back of an impending worldwide economic downturn. Let's talk of India. At last count, around 56 million suffered from depression. Data shared by the World Health Organization shows that economic losses due to mental health conditions worldwide are in excess of US $1 trillion (Rs 82 lakh crore) just between FY 2012 and FY 2030. India accounts for 14 per cent of this, as per estimates from the National Mental Health Survey. So much for a first paragraph; let's move on.

The research further reveals that one of seven Indian citizens needs mental health support, lest they drift further into a cerebral morass. This can happen to anyone, forget cast, creed or bank balance. This is the greatest leveller in a while, far more devilish than the COVID-19 pandemic that came to us unrequited. The affected Indian could be a colleague, a friend or a relative. Anyone can and possibly has already been afflicted. Me and myself are grappling with it, and to prove that, let's talk numbers.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) claims that Year 2020-21 saw the maximum number of suicides in the history of our country, increasing by 7.29 per cent in 12 months. The numbers are shocking—NCRB's report 'Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India 2020' reveals that 1,08,532 men committed suicide last year, as compared to 44,498 women—that implied that 71 per cent of suicides were those of males. The reasons are not just related to personal and financial issues; they lean towards mental issues too. Experts say 15 per cent of Indians are now inclined to take their own lives and guess what? Most Indians biting the golden bullet are men.

What is going wrong?

Well, I guess that macho saying has gone pusillanimous and impotent, with well nigh everything going haywire. So the average Indian Ram, Rahim and Radhe, has never been so willing to put a gun inside his mouth and pull the trigger. Something has changed. The world as we have known it is flagellating, perhaps because of the people running our personal space(s). In a new world, we have the tough task of figuring out our own personal reality, especially since the diktat is to remain invisible. Welcome to our new today, one we created through the storm of the last few years. It may be a result of a f(l)ailing global economy and India's terrible assumption of the real situation. This is an unimpeachable new highway, a stark future, a very grim reality.

Medical observers assert that the number of men reaching out to doctors today with mental ailments is twice that of women. In FY 2021, the number of men dying due to heart attacks increased by 6 per cent as compared to FY 2020. A key reason cited is "emotional stress triggered by the COVID pandemic". If we forget grown men for a moment and talk of the youth, a recent NMHS survey revealed that over 80 per cent of students feel anxious and unnerved when examinations loom; so much for creating resolve and grit in future generations. We are failing as a state and as elders, cultivating a mish-mash of moral wrecks who oft end up erratic and absurd, using cuss-words and curses rather than class and refinement.

To be fair to the youth, they find themselves facing unrelenting pressure from family and peers. In the slightly grown-ups, repeated leaks in competitive exams and lack of unemployment opportunities force them to look for anti-social means for earning their way out of penury and passing time. Fake news and hate propaganda being dished out by the media, as also politicians, is not helping matters any. Two recent cases that underscore this strategic brainwashing of the Gen X are the Amritsar school bomb scare and the shameful Bully Bai app.

Anxious and disturbed

Some claim that the peak of this problem occurs at 9 pm each day, when our TV anchors begin their slamming spree, unleashing verbal vomit, vitriol and unrest. When this started years back, watching the 9 pm TV Prime Time debates on the telly was hilarious and of-rib-tickling. Today, it is disgusting to an extent that millions of Indians have just stopped watching 'news', unable to do much else to tackle this vicious slide into bigotry and sycophancy.

Things have got to a stead that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has questioned the authorities on why nothing is being done to stop the hate speeches and the general media's slide into a nether world. The SC has expressed anguish and displeasure over unfair and crude expressions by panellists during live debates and gone even further to call India's visual media the "chief medium of hate speech". Questioning the authorities on why they are "standing by as a mute witness when all this is happening", treating this as "a trivial matter", the authorities have berated them. They have also affirmed that "hate speeches can be in different forms, a sort of ridicule (to) a community", saying this could have a "devastating effect"

Just a month later, the learned justices (a bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy) said such spread through the visual media is leading to a rot in India at an alarming rate. I shall delve only on depression amongst our masses, since that is what we are discussing today.

Other dark spots

There are other reasons behind men walking the road to depression—increased pressure and even torture faced in their homesteads, sometimes at the hands of women. India's judicial system doesn't favour men in accusations of sexual harassment and domestic violence. There have been umpteen instances of women physically abusing men. Recently, a clip went viral, that of a woman beating her husband inside the home. In Gurugram, one woman filed eight rape cases against men, leading to all of them being jailed. On investigation, the lady's charges turned out to be false and all were released. But the damage had been done.

'Mard ko dard nahin hota' (man feels no pain), we were told. Well, he does. The malaise stems from the roots of society, where men are expected to be strong for their families and the pillar of support everyone derives strength from. But is holding half the population to such unrealistic standards fair? Look at the number of false dowry-related cases filed in India each year—over 110,000 men are charged with dowry-related issues under the now-dreaded Section 498A, which leads to imprisonment on a complaint by the wife. Over 95 per cent of complaints are found to be false and the result of a domestic tiff, but by the time resolution happens, respect has been lost, as have been jobs and many a time lives.

There's hope though as the authorities take notice, especially with demands for a special body to protect men's rights. As Marika Mattos said famously—"As the heaven showers us with rain, it has left some of us in disarray; And yet, when I look out of the window and feel the few drops of falling rain, I can feel calm again." It is time for calm and action, and quite aptly so.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on narayanrajeev2006@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal