People in Siolim, India, who suffer from stress, depression and anxiety, rarely receive adequate treatment. The doctors and nurses assigned in this remote fishing and agriculture village focus more on physical ailments. For the most part, they prioritize children suffering from diarrhea, the elderly with heart problems and workers with cut injuries. Similarly, locals fear being diagnosed with related mental problems. They are afraid to experience the misfortune of family and friends. It resulted in suffering in silence worsening his misery.
In 2007, two specialists visited the city. Its main objective was to identify people with anxiety and stress. Surprisingly, doctors found themselves worried all day and throughout the week. Dr. Anil Umraskar, the person in charge, said that a large number of people formed a “considerable crowd” in the clinic. Every day more and more patients appear with a high level of stress, anxiety and depression.
They concluded that the majority of Indians with moderate to severe mental illnesses are never left without treatment. The investigation revealed that 80% to 90% of people who suffer the highest level of anxiety and stress do not receive adequate treatment. That was when Dr. Vikram Patel, a psychiatrist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, started the Siolim Project. As of today, the clinic has been the vanguard to treat the emotional and mental condition of people in the area. He has expressed his potential to transform the mental health problem in some countries of the developing world.
But instead of doctors, the program is training ordinary people to identify symptoms of depression and treat people in stressful conditions. With a population of over one billion people in India, large sums of money will be needed to raise more psychiatrists to treat depression problems. They have only 4,000 specialists throughout the country. Dr. Greg E. Simon, a researcher at the Center for Health Studies in Seattle, praised Dr. Patel’s defense. He said: “It is something really interesting and exciting what you are doing.”
The workers said that stress and depression have been as common as those of the rich. Poor people in poor countries experience the same emotional turmoil and are no longer seen as anxiety as Western affliction.
Most of these poor patients express a wide variety of causes. Medha Upadhye, 29, said one of the councilors: “Financial difficulties and interpersonal conflicts are there. But unemployment and alcoholism are some of the main problems.”
People, who identify themselves suffering from the problem, increase at least 20% in a given year. Experts say that even the most remote and poorest place, severe stress has become a disabling disease similar to malaria. Theoretically it is affecting the economic condition of society. If a farmer suffers from constant and constant depression or stress, he cannot get out of bed to work. Most likely, your family does not have food on the table.