Globally five out of 100 people suffer from depression, says a report by the World Health Organization (WHO). Depression was predicted to be the second leading cause of global disability burden by the end of 2020. The report also states that depressive disorders account for around 42 per cent of disability among the women. Hence, mental health is a stigma that severely impacts physical health as well, resulting in lower productivity.
In addition to the existing burden of mental health disorders, the current Covid-19 crisis has been wreaking havoc on people's mental health. The unprecedented crisis has intensified the loopholes that already existed in viewing mental health as an equally important topic along with physical health. Daily routine has been disrupted due to the lockdown that resulted in insomnia in case of young adults mostly. Moreover, negligence of family members towards confirmed or suspected Covid-19 patients causes severe depression. Even few cases of suicide attempts have been reported due to negative attitude of the family members and society.
On the other hand, financial crises have severe repercussions on mental health which is the prime factor behind increased domestic violence during Covid-19. Given the country that we live in and the social fabrics that it comprises, South Asian women are undoubtedly the worst sufferers of this pandemic. The façade of domestic tranquility has been torn apart as domestic violence has reached new heights in recent times. Working women who are working from home in this period have to take the load of both professional work and household chores which constitutes the reason for them to become burned out with work. However, the positive thing is that many organisations are trying to address these issues. Women Support Initiative Forum (WSIF) is one such initiative that has been providing large scale psycho-social support and therapy to women throughout the pandemic.
WSIF is a woman led online platform founded in 2018 to create mass awareness regarding mental health, improving health care seeking behaviour-- particularly among the women to reduce the stigma associated with seeking mental health care. This community aims to create awareness about psychosocial health, social issues, promote wellbeing and self-care among the women of Bangladesh. In 2018, WSIF received a small fund called Edward M Kennedy (EMK) for public service and arts. EMK fund is usually provided to those Bangladeshi people and institutions working on voluntary activities, women empowerment, education and social development, etc. Since its birth three years ago, WSIF has been working relentlessly for the mental health of women and has become extremely well-accepted among them.
WSIF has arranged 22 public mental health awareness sessions with its team of trained psychologists and mental health researchers which were attended by more than 1,500 participants. Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, WSIF has been holding live sessions on different subjects of mental health and other needed relevant issues almost every week or bi-weekly conducted by different levels of expert panels. The in-house psychiatrists and psychologists are providing online consultation mostly for free, along with regular educative live sessions and daily awareness messages. Besides, psychosocial supporters (PSS) of WSIF have provided mental health aid to around 120 clients and referred them to the experts for further support.
Mental health issues and help seeking behaviour have increased among the student population amid this crisis, many of whom belong to the young women community. WSIF understands their needs; hence the organisation is paving a path for them to avail counselling sessions in an easier and affordable way. Their new scheme 'Project Rising' has been providing free counselling sessions to the students who reach out to WSIF for help. As many as twenty sessions have been conducted under this scheme within two weeks into its launch. Through this, WSIF can seek to prevent a great deal of mental health conditions like major depressive disorders and severe mental illness.
The vision of WSIF is to contribute to the development of Bangladesh as a country where everyone recognises the importance of mental health.
Both the writers are mental health specialists.