Apart from the three well-known Indians, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochar, psychiatrist Dr Vikram Patel also featured in this year’s Time’s Most Influential list. Dubbed the “Well-being Warrior” by the magazine, he is now counting on the next 365 days to get the most visibility for his crusade — mental health for all, made possible by all.
“I heard about this about a month ago when I received an email from Time. My first reaction was that someone had sent me a joke or a spam mail!” he says.
Even after confirming its authenticity, Dr Patel did not believe it was anything significant until he saw the interest that followed once the news was made public. “But we have just 365 days to make the most of it as there will be another list to replace this one in a year’s time.” For the magazine, Barbara Van Dahlen, founder of Give an Hour and the Campaign to Change Direction, wrote: “He provides hope that mental illness and trauma make us neither weak nor unworthy of love and respect.”
Dr Patel, who today nods at this description, however, did not start off knowing that he would be spending his life helping people through the discipline of psychiatry. Growing up in Mumbai, he wanted to be a chef. It was only on the insistence of his family to steer towards the medical profession that he chose psychiatry — “a mix of medicine and society”.
Years later, in 1993, Dr Patel’s journey into service through psychiatry began with an assignment in Zimbabwe, where he lived for two years — working in the university in Harare and doing research, clinical work and teaching. “I learned so much in Zimbabwe, in particular about the need for humility in our ambition to extend mental health care in countries where there were very few psychiatrists and where the local culture harboured very different views about mental illness and healing. These experiences have profoundly influenced my thinking.”
The situation is not very different in India. The ratio between psychiatrists and the population is worsening and so is the stigma of mental illnesses. This is where Dr Patel’s work becomes significant. His model envisages common people to be trained in tackling mental disorders and illnesses. Dr Patel’s argument is simple, when people can be trained to deliver babies or even treat early stages of pneumonia, then why not mental illnesses? He summarises: “There is no health without mental health; mental health is too important to be left to the professionals alone; and mental health is everyone’s business.”
“Those who want to do more can get trained in one of the many psychological treatment approaches and work with an NGO serving people at risk of mental health problems, such as those who are displaced, or already suffering from mental health problems.” Dr Patel also runs the NGO Sangath, in Goa, which has been an integral part of his work in India. “This recognition (Time feature) is also for the work done by the hundreds of people with Sangath, now working across India, over the past 17 years.”
Goa also holds a special place in Dr Patel’s life. “I have known I was destined to live in Goa the moment I first stepped foot on the Panjim docks from the ferry from Mumbai, when I was 18. I interned in Goa in 1986 and returned in 1995 as soon as I got the first chance to come back to India after my training in the UK. Since co-founding Sangath in 1996, I have never looked back and consider Goa as my primary home.”
In India, Dr Patel and his teams have worked with several communities on various illnesses and issues. Among the touching stories is the one about farmer suicides, he says. “Three years ago, we began the VISHRAM programme in villages in Vidarbha, Gujarat to begin addressing psychosocial distress in these communities. At that time, the word mental health was considered synonymous with ‘madness’ and most people were reluctant to talk about depression and their difficult lives. After years of patient engagement, over a dozen gram panchayats passed resolutions for better mental health care, which led to government action to increase access to the District Mental Health Programme in these areas.”
Today, he shuttles between India and the UK, where he is the Professor of International Mental Health and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Clinical Science.
The ambitious goal of ensuring mental health for everyone does take a toll on Dr Patel’s personal life. “Yes, this is the biggest price I have to pay. My wife Gauri has been the rock of my family and my life, and has been my best friend and companion. She has tolerated my long absences and nurtured our son and home so that they were always there for me when I came back. There is little doubt in my mind that she is equal to me in my story.”
