Mental Health Literacy in Rural India

Abstract

Poor knowledge about mental health is one of the main barriers for seeking treatment in our country, especially among rural areas. It also contributes significantly toward stigma and discrimination that persons with mental disorders face. Early recognition and intervention for persons with mental health problems have positive outcomes. Mental health literacy is being seen as one of the key indicators in predicting successful outcomes in persons with mental disorders. People with mental illness are subjected to discrimination and are treated with contempt due to the deep-rooted stigma present in the rural society. Due to this,there is a need to understand the local and cultural contexts of stigma to develop effective and innovative methods to change such attitude. With newer research, today, various new techniques have been implemented to increase the mental health literacy among the rural societies in India. This chapter will look into the diverse methods of increasing mental health literacy among the rural population in India. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)