Disturbed sleep, mood top list of complaints on India's mental health helpline

On the occasion of World Mental Health Day and to mark the two-year anniversary of the Tele-MANAS service, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday held an event, wherein it released an assessment report.

India's toll-free mental health helpline—Tele-MANAS—has attended to over 14 lakh calls from citizens since its launch in October 2022.

On the occasion of World Mental Health Day and to mark the two-year anniversary of the service, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday held an event, wherein it released an assessment report.

According to Times of India, which analysed the report, the top four complaints on the mental health helpline were related to sleep disturbances (14 per cent), sadness (14 per cent), stress (11 per cent), and anxiety (9 per cent).

Suicide-related cases, meanwhile, accounted for less than three per cent of the total complaints.

As far as the demograpy of callers go, 56 per cent of callers on the Tele-MANAS were males, while 72 per cent were aged between 18 and 45 years.

"Mental health is fundamental to health and plays a crucial role in enabling individuals, families and communities to function at their highest level, work productively and contribute to society. Unhealthy work environments and other unfavorable working conditions have an impact on one's general health, well-being, mental health, and involvement or productivity at work," said Aradhana Patnaik, Additional Secretary, MoHFW & Managing Director, National Health Mission (NHM), as she launched the Tele-MANAS app and the Tele-MANAS video call facility on Thursday.

"There is a need for creating a good work environment and work-life balance for more productive results in the workplace," she added.

Also underlining the importance of adolescent mental health and issues faced by the adolescent population, Patnaik stressed “the need for Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) to ensure awareness about the Tele-MANAS App."

The Tele MANAS toll-free helpline numbers 14416 or 1-800-891-4416 offer multi-language support in 20 languages and have been pivotal in facilitating communication between callers and mental health professionals.