A Study on the Role of Online Services in Mental Healthcare Access
- April 8, 2022
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue III, March 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
A Study on the Role of Online Services in Mental Healthcare Access
Lovely Singh
School of Global Affairs, Ambedkar University Delhi
Abstract: Mental health (MH) has always been disassociated from physical health in the mainstream healthcare domain, and so has mental healthcare access. However, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not just about physical health; the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown highlighted the challenges people face with mental health issues. With a global pandemic, there was a sudden drastic change in the lives of the people, such as restricted movements, lack of human warmth/touch, change in work and study mode, loss of loved ones, heightened emotions and very few ways to process or express them resulted in the rise of mental health issues. For a problem to be resolved, acknowledgement is required first. An increase in MH issues came with a positive acknowledgement around of problem. Some with acceptance, some with initial denial, started to look for ways to deal with the changes. In this age of technology, seeking help regarding MH issues is also moving online, and this paper will deal with this question. We are going to look at the dimensional change in accessing MH care service in the age where most of the time of people is being spent online.
Keywords: Mental health, Online Services, Access, Dimensional change, Healthcare.
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent decades, there has been a shifting focus on mental health issues. As a result, research has been done on various types of mental health problems, their probable causes and probable solutions. The topic was side-lined, fenced with taboos and lack of accurate information for such a long period that there is still a long way to go to finally have a proper solution and infrastructure to deal with this global issue. The main focus of this paper is to understand the role of online services (with particular emphasis on apps and websites) in increasing access to mental health care.
Covid-19 pandemic, which affected the whole world, had visiblised the inability of the mainstream healthcare infrastructure to deal with such a pandemic even in 1st world nations which claim to have the best possible facilities. One more important thing that got much-needed attention was Mental Health, and its potential impact is of grave concern. The impact of COVID-19 on mental, neurological and substance use services: results of a rapid assessment report by WHO (2020) stated there was severe disruption of mental health services in more than 93% of countries.
