Need to shift mental healthcare from illness to wellness: Dr Purohit

Bhopal/New Delhi : Understanding the neurobiology of mental illnesses is crucial to fostering holistic wellness and therefore there is an urgent need of shifting mental health care from merely addressing illness to promoting overall wellness said Dr Naresh Purohit , Executive Member- Indian Academy of Neurosciences.

Speaking to media reporters here after addressing a seminar on “Neurobiology of Mental Illness ”.  organised by the Bhopal based Peoples College of Medical Sciences (PCMS),
Advisor- National Mental Health Programme – Dr Purohit emphasised the need for a broader approach to mental health care, which integrates clinical expertise with innovation to enhance patient outcomes.

He introduced the concept of emotional brain in the seminar and explained how emotions are modulated.

According to renowned Behavioural Neurologist, neurological disorders contribute to approximately 10% of the overall disease burden in India and there is a shift towards a higher prevalence of non – communicable neurological conditions and a decrease in communicable neurological conditions such as brain infections.

He averred that 86 billion neurons with 100 trillion connections make up the brain.
He said that the hippocampus and amygdala constitute the emotional brain.
The human limbic brain leads to fight, flight, and freeze responses.

He explained that mental health and mental illness do not mean the same although the terms are often used interchangeably. Mental health refers to anyone’s state of mental, emotional, and social well-being whereas, mental illness is a diagnosed condition that affects one’s thoughts and behavior. One can have moments or periods of poor mental health but not everyone has a mental illness and one having a mental illness can achieve sound mental health. It is important to realize that mental illness does not always lead to poor mental health and that poor mental health is not always due to mental illness.

“Life events or any other outside factors can affect anyone’s mental health if or not a mental illness is present.” he added.

He highlighted the modern neuroscientific technologies, where the brain acts like an orchestra and, when the symphony gets out of tune, behavioural, psychiatric, and neurological conditions arise.

*Dr. Naresh Purohit-MD, DNB, DIH, MHA, MRCP(UK), is an Epidemiologist, and Advisor-National Communicable Disease Control Program of Govt. of India, Madhya Pradesh and several state Health organizations.                                                                                                                                                                                             Dr. Purohit is also Chief Advisor Hospitals Association  of India  and Chief Investigator  Association of Studies for Kidneycare.