Mental Health Act

 Mental Health Act

A human is considered healthy when one is at comfort with physical and mental health. People are aware of various physical discomfort and such discomfort can be cured easily where as mental illness is something that people ignore and there is no cure to such a problem.

Mental health refers to cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being .it is all about how people think, feel and behave. This word is used by many people to mean the absence of a mental disorder. According to WHO (World health organization ), mental health is a state of well–being in which an individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and can make a contribution to his or her community.

A survey was conducted by the national institute of mental health, reflected that in 2017, around 11.2 million adults, around 4.5% of adults suffer from a psychological condition. There are various mental disorders known as anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and schizophrenia disorder.

Anxiety disorder is the most common form of mental illness. People with this illness suffer from severe fear or anxiety, which relates to certain objects or situations. Mood disorder is the other form of mental illness, people with this order suffer from significant mood changes, generally involving mania, which is a period of high energy and elation or depression. Schizophrenia disorder is a kind of disorder in which people suffer from thoughts that appear fragmented and they have a hard time processing information. These conditions are seen between the ages of 16-30 years.

Seeing the importance of this disease govt. of India formulated the mental health act. Mental health care is a right secured to every person in the country by law. The history of such legislation date backs to 1745. the first asylum was established by the East India Company in Bombay and the second was built in Calcutta in 1784. In 1946, a Bhore committee found that the position of mental health care in India was extremely unsatisfactory. National Mental Health Programme was initiated in 1982 it aimed at developing community-based mental health services. In 1996, NMHP got operationalized as the district mental health program based on a pilot program later known as the Bellary model. In Independent India the first law to governmental health was known as the Indian lunacy act 1912  major provisions in this act were drawn from the English lunatics act 1845. In 1993, the act mental health act was implemented. the criticisms of the mental health act 1987 led to the mental health care bill 2013, which was passed as the mental healthcare act 2017. 

These laws are considered to be very important and in the past, many movies spread awareness of such health, such as  Taare Zameen Par and Tamasha. Section 51A of the constitution mentions about developing scientific temper among the citizens is a fundamental duty.