Freedom from the stigma of mental health disorders

This Independence Day, Outlook India asks: Can we imagine a nation where freedom includes freedom from the stigma of mental illness? In India, to speak of mental health is to invite silence. Judgment. Or worse--abandonment. For many in India, mental health care doesn’t begin in clinics—but with superstition, isolation, or mistreatment. When poverty and caste determine a person’s place in society, illness is not just an affliction; it's also shame. In collaboration with Chennai-based NGO The Banyan and others, Outlook's Independence Day Special Issue is on stories, reports, columns and analysis on mental health issues.