PANAJI
Domain experts will deliberate the role of the environment in safeguarding mental health in a webinar at 6 pm, on Saturday, to mark World Mental Health Day.
The webinar will host panellists Dr Debarati Mukherjee, INSPIRE Faculty Fellow at the Indian Institute of Public Health, Bangalore, Vikram Patel, Goa-based Sangath founder and Pershing Square Professor at the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Deepti Sharma, Visual Artist and Storyteller and Nerissa Almeida Santimano, Fellow at the Royal Society of Public Health, London.
Public health experts acknowledge that the natural environment protects mental health. One in seven Indians were affected by mental disorders of varying severity in 2017 according to a study published by leading medical journal ‘The Lancet’.
“Preserving our environment isn’t just vital for survival of our fragile planet, but for the health of each person. Simply spending time in nature, has been shown to improve well-being and even help in recovery from mental health problems,” Patel adds.
The risk of numerous mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, and several serious mental illnesses such as psychosis, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Paranoia are linked to living in nature-starved urban areas.
Studies have also indicated dose-response relationship between the amount of time spent in nature-devoid urban environments and the risk of schizophrenia as an adult.
Researchers from the Indian National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience found children and teens in urban areas are more likely to face addiction to technology and substance abuse.
Contrastingly, spending time in and around nature has proven to help with mental ill-health.
“Nature just helps put things in perspective. It grounds you, it has a soothing effect on you, it comforts you,” says Deepti Sharma, animator and illustrator in Goa, who will share on the webinar her personal lived experience of the effect of nature.
Dr Debarati Mukherjee another panellist demonstrated the evidence of a protective effect of large green spaces on major depression amongst those with other chronic physical health issues.
“At a time when programmes for improving population mental wellbeing such as ‘social prescribing’ have started to formally recommend or ‘prescribe’ spending time in nature, it would seem amiss to leave ourselves in a deficit of such valuable natural resources on which we ultimately depend,” says yet another panellist of Saturday’s webinar, Nerissa Almeida Santimano.
Meanwhile, the Save Mollem Community Campaign has urged fellow campaigners and others to join the webinar and engage with the panellists.
