The Need to be Heard: Lending an Ear in the Times of Crisis
In an uncertain time where every day has become a challenge to survive and save others, the need to be heard has risen, making us practice the art of listening and take a step forward in building a support system.
-Dr Soumitra Pathare, Director, Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy
The strength to fight the virus after the first wave was beginning to build early in 2021. Soon the second wave crashed with more intensity than imagined, taking away more lives, some of them buried under the rubble of a healthcare system that collapsed due to rapid spread and inaccessibility of resources. According to Dr Pathare, there have been talks about the collapse of India’s health system. However, there has been no collapse of the mental health system because it never existed in the first place.
‘New Pathways, New Hope’ was highlighted in The National Mental Health Policy of India 2014. However, there was no new pathway and no hope. The policy was not implemented. There was no funding. The findings of the National Mental Health Survey of India (2016), implemented by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, revealed that a big treatment gap still exists for all types of mental health problems: ranging from 28% to 83% for mental disorders.
After the pandemic, the gap has widened to a large extent. The reason is not just the limited number of professionals in the space to cater to a high population but also the stigma attached. It has led to a lack of individual participation in community awareness and assistance to build a system to help the people in need. Dr Pathare emphasises the need to have a preventive approach towards Mental Health for a country like India that does not have enough resources yet to help provide a cure to the majority of the ill.
Covid, Healthcare, and the Mental Health Crisis
The second wave of COVID-19 has turned more lethal, infecting more people and taking more lives. Besides causing financial and physical problems, it has also affected people mentally, creating panic in their minds. Not that the advent of the second wave was unexpected, but as a nation, we were unprepared for the intensity with which it came. Our healthcare system bore the load, and lack of primary resources like oxygen and hospital beds started to bring people on the verge of dying. The emergency calls through various media platforms rose every few minutes, not only by the caregivers but by frontline workers and administrators. Uncertainty has become the driving force of the havoc caused in the nation — not only for the living but for the ones succumbing to it.
Experts say the toll this pandemic has had on the mental health of Covid patients and their families, while beyond measure, is a severe concern for the country. While people from different spheres have come forward to support each other and save lives, the toll the situation is taking on the Mental Health of every being is inevitable. People with underlying issues are not the only ones struggling, but experts have indicated that people who have never witnessed anxiety or depression are looking for support for their well-being. There is fear of catching the virus and a more fearful thought of losing loved ones to the crack in the healthcare system. There is anxiety, panic, and an atmosphere of hearing some terrible news from anyone around us. There is a feeling of helplessness residing in the lives of some, where the dilemma of not being able to do enough to help others is increasing. The virus has affected people far worse this time, causing a dent in their state of mind and overall well-being.
The Need to be Heard
Sometimes we just need to be heard. There are times in life when being heard leads to being healed.
― Steve Maraboli
In times of distress, it is common to seek help from people around us. The one need that forms the basis of this act of seeking help is that of being heard in the first place. Humans are bound to experience emotions and feel the effects of external situations on their well-being. If we are being heard and our mental state and emotions accepted and validated by our listener, we are halfway through recognising the roots of our problem.
From seeking medical help to expressing the fear and anxiety of the pandemic, the need to be heard was met by listeners all around reaching out to extend a hand in support and help the people in need. Several problems may not be solved by mere listening, but listening to a person in distress became the first step in connecting them with the right source of medical help amidst all the cries in the country. Even those struggling alone in the silence of their thoughts are possibly in need of someone to listen to them. The need to be heard is there, in the end.
Listening as a Means of Support
The existing resources for Mental Health support in India are not enough to cater to a large population affected by the pandemic. It is difficult to fill the gap immediately to address the rising chaos in people’s lives. There is a need to build support systems in and around our lives to help people sail through the Mental Health crisis. Listening to people in difficult times is one of the primary ways to support them. Helping someone find an outlet to express their concerns assures them that they are not alone and there is help available in one form or the other.
Listening to provide support for Mental Health involves an active effort on the listener’s part to empathise with the other person and validate their feelings without any judgments. It is not about providing solutions but helping people narrate their problems in the first place. We all can be a listener to someone by being there for them in their best and worse. Many times the issues are sorted by listening as most people know the solutions themselves. Even if listening does not lead to a solution, understanding the problem would help find a better direction to solve the problem.
To listen to someone in such difficult times may not be as easy as it sounds because the state of being of everyone is affected somehow due to the Covid crisis. Taking one step at a time to offer support is enough in these times. Changing even one life for the better is a sound way to begin a journey of making a hundred lives better.
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
-Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson
In-mind
Crafting the way towards Mental Health