Mental health is discussed religiously nowadays. Despite
this fact, people tend to attach stigma to mental illness
which makes mental health a field inaccessible to many
people, making them prone to various mental illnesses for
which they fear to seek therapy.
During the research study, one concrete observation was
found that one of the main reasons of farmer’s suicide in
Mansa district of Punjab was mental illness. The family
members of the case studies openly talked about the
reasons of suicide and the one that came out in majority
was “pareshaniyaan” which means tension or anxiety
leading to depression. In some cases this was genetically
inherited but majorly, depression in farmers was caused
due to inability to repay debt, the burden of daughter’s
marriage and in some extreme cases it was tied reasons
such as dowry that is the demand of dowry from
daughter’s in-laws.
Depression in the villages of Mansa is seen as a normal
baggage that the families of farmers have to carry with
them with other problems of life. They include the word
“pareshani” in their routine conversations, they know its
consequences but still are vulnerable to being caged in
mental illness due to lack of resources and the only easy
way out for them is suicide as quoted by family members
of the suicide victims . Each family had one or two
members who were taking medications for diverse mental
illnesses and this was not regular. They took medicines
only when they were able to buy it. Mental tension resulted
in alcoholism in many households.
Tahir Singh(70 years old), a landless agricultural labor
from village Kot Dharmu tells that he has to spend almost
two thousand per week to buy medicines for his wife who
is in mental trauma since their only son committed suicide
due to debts.
Gurmaan Singh(15 years old), from Khiala Kalan village is in
mental trauma since his father committed suicide when he was
only 4 years old. He studied only till 7 th grade after that he gad
to drop out due to health issues. Our Team tried to talk to
Gurmaan, In reply we got a hand wave and a smile. His mother
is trying her best to collect money for his treatment by doing
domestic labor.
This is not only about the lack of resources by families to seek
treatment but the deep-rooted malfunctioning of the hospitals
and health centers in the Mansa districts. The Survey Report
suggests that Doctors tend not to give proper information
about their medical condition and charge more in the name of
giving proper medicines for providing a faster relief.
By,
Ananay Koushal
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