The popularity of a particular subject during admission to undergraduate courses may indicate broader trends within the po­pulace. Consider the trend reported by several col­leges in Calcutta suggesting that more application forms have been submitted this year in psychology than in traditionally popular subjects like political science and history. This uptick in interest in psychology has also been observed in universities in Delhi and Bengaluru. This has led to speculation that the development may be suggestive of broader concerns with mental health and its attendant challenges among students. This inference, if it has substance, is encouraging. The popularity of psychology as a discipline and subsequent opportunities in research in relevant fields may help tackle the embedded social stigma associated with mental health in this country. Several studies have underlined the scale of the crisis and the depth of the bias. A World Health Organization report had indicated some years ago that about 56 million Indians were battling depression while 38 million citizens suffered from anxiety. Another study by a non-profit entity around the same time revealed that a disproportionate number of Indians were judgmental about mental health conditions, with several attributing violence and retardation to this constituency. Incidentally, the pandemic has further exacerbated India’s mental health burden. It has been estimated that the Covid-19 outbreak may have pushed up the number of Indians with mental health problems from 14% to 20%. Since a large number of young people remain afflicted — a student had committed suicide once every 42 minutes in 2020 says the National Crime Records Bureau — it is perhaps reasonable to draw a causal connection between the attraction for psychology among students and India’s mental health epidemic.

The challenge now would be to streamline employment opportunities with the discipline. This would have two benefits. First, it may help address the severe paucity of mental health professionals in the country: India has only 0.75 psychiatrists per 1,00,000 people. Second, it may also encourage more students to take up the subject. The Centre is not unaware of the ground reality: its instituting of the telepsychiatry helpline, Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States, bears proof. But the paltry Rs 919 crores allocated to mental health — a mere 1% of the total budget for the ministry of health and family welfare — speaks of a larger deficiency in official attention towards India’s burgeoning mental health crisis.