Vice President Naidu inaugurates annual conference of IAPP

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Friday mooted a national suicide prevention strategy to curb the tendency among youngsters and others to end their lives due to depression and frustration. Inaugurating the 19th Annual Conference of Indian Association of Private Psychiatry (IAPP) here, Naidu said he was disturbed by reports of youngsters, farmers and women committing suicide.

Pitching for a national campaign, he said there was a need for collective efforts from all stakeholders, including the immediate family members, public health planners, policymakers and NGOs to prevent people from taking their lives.

Timely counselling and family support can prevent people suffering from depression from taking extreme steps, he added. Naidu said Yoga, meditation and spiritualism will provide mental equilibrium and solace at times of depression.

The Vice President said modern medicines and proper treatment would enable people suffering from psychiatric disorders to lead normal productive lives even if they had faced the problem for a long-term. He said both the developing and the developed nations were beset with different types of health issues and mental illness was one of the leading non-communicable diseases ailing the world.

According to him, more women were affected by depression than men. In all, nearly 150 million Indians were in need of active medical intervention, according to the National Mental Health Survey 2015-16, he added. 

(With inputs from agencies.)