Imphal, Oct 11 (IANS): While global data for mental health problems is 13 out of 100 which had shot up to five times following the Covid-19 pandemic, for the restive state of Manipur, due to the ongoing violence, the situation has further worsened to one in every eight persons, said an expert on Tuesday.

Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the government-run Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), R.K. Lenin Singh, said that no one can be considered as healthy without a robust mental health as physical health must go in tandem with a sound mental health.

“One in every eight persons in Manipur is deemed to be having mental health issues due to the current ethnic turmoil,” he said while addressing a discussion at RIMS on the occasion of the World Mental Health Day with the theme ‘Mental Health is a Universal Human Right'.

He also lamented that there is a social stigma attached to mental health issues.

The problem is compounded when most people normally do not realise that they have mental health problems and do not know where to seek remedy, Singh pointed out.

Manipur’s Health Minister, Sapam Ranjan Singh, while speaking at another function said that nobody is without stress in this modern world, hence it has become necessary to cope with one’s stress at the right time.

Referring to the stressful situation that the state is currently going through because of the ethnic violence, the minister appreciated the role played by the state mental health mission team during the crisis, particularly for its role in identifying the post-traumatic stress order affecting children and providing consultancy to overcome the mental health issues of the affected children.

The minister asserted that there is a need to create an atmosphere where all individuals are mentally fit and no one hesitates to share his or her stress with others in order to overcome it.