India is grappling with a severe mental health crisis, with over 197 million Indians diagnosed with mental disorders, exacerbated by a wide treatment gap. The good news is that there is growing recognition of the importance of mental health in the country. However, a thorough understanding of what it entails, what forms mental well-being takes, how it should be approached and conceptualised, is lacking.

Mental well-being is intertwined with economic, cultural, social and other factors at various stages of an individual’s life. Effective interventions, therefore, should be contextualised to these aspects. How can public policy, market solutions and community solutions be designed with these in mind?

Joining us on World Mental Health Day to share her reflections on making mental health a key part of India’s development agenda, is Dr Pratima Murthy. Dr. Murthy is the Director of NIMHANS, where she has been pivotal in initiating Tele Manas, and establishing the state-of-the-art Centre for Addiction. She has also worked with the National Human Rights Commission to improve care for persons with mental illness.

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Host: Rathish Balakrishnan | ⁠Linkedin | Twitter

Guest: Dr. Pratima Murthy | Linkedin

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Audio Engineer & Editor: Abhilash Raikar

Designer: Usha Sondhi Kundu

Content Sections:

00:48 Introduction to the topic and guest

02:14 Why is mental well-being critical?

04:17 Recognising interconnections

08:10 Vocabulary and mental models

12:22 Context-specific intervention design

15:38 Designing population-scale interventions

23:11 Perinatal well-being

26:06 Mental health in schools

36:01 Mental health in workplaces

39:42 Prisons as a crucial locus

44:55 Mental health for the elderly

47:54 Improving access to care

51:41 Designing mental well-being models

58:22 Recommendations for philanthropy

1:02:15 Summary and Outro