From the immediate past president: Musings on Indian social psychiatry on the occasion of silver jubilee conference of Indian Association for Social Psychiatry

Abstract

The Indian Association for Social Psychiatry (IASP) celebrates its Silver Jubilee National Conference this year in the state of Haryana, on the theme of “Prioritizing Rural and Community Health Care in India.” It is a time to rejoice and also an opportunity to reflect on the objectives with which the society was founded. It is important to reflect if we have achieved our aims and where and how we need to direct our efforts for this society to make noticeable change in the way mental health services are planned and delivered to the vast majority of Indian public deprived of this essential component of total health. Currently, a large section of our population, predominantly rural, is served through the implementation of the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP). It is an offshoot of the National Mental Health Programme, a revolutionary idea in the 1980s. However, since then, the health systems have undergone tremendous changes. We are stuck with the old delivery methods. It is time the mental health too adopts new digital technologies to reach its unreached population. IASP can and must take lead in making collaborations with all the stakeholders and partners and use modern health systems to achieve its aims and objectives. After all, the nation's prosperity depends on mental well-being of its citizens.