Chandigarh: Need to address rising number of homeless mentally ill, says Dr Isaac

While delivering the 7th Prof NN Wig lecture hosted at PGIMER, Dr Mohan Isaac, associate professor at University of Western Australia, touched on key issues, including the reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnosis

Given the increasing number of homeless mentally ill people, especially in western countries, Dr Mohan Isaac, a noted expert of psychiatry, emphasised on re-institutionalisation in mental health care.

Dr Mohan Isaac highlighted de-institutionalisation came for better, but it backfired with not enough provisions for their supervision in society. This has led to a large number of homeless mentally ill people. (HT Photo)

While delivering the 7th Prof NN Wig lecture hosted at PGIMER, Dr Mohan Isaac, associate professor at University of Western Australia, touched on key issues, including the reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnosis, the growing global movement for increasing mental health awareness, the rise and influence of the anti-psychiatry movement and the far-reaching impact of de-institutionalisation.

He reflected on how through rigorous institutionalisation during the 1800s, people with mental disorders/illnesses were kept in asylums and mental institutes for a longer time, which led to their separation from society and violation of their human rights.

Institutionalisation was followed by de-instutionalisation from 1960s onwards where professionals brought forth the negatives of institutionalisation, leading to community mental health care with less long-term hospitalisation and increased care at home, halfway and group homes, etc, he added.

“Proper community support, supervised and supported housing, increased number of beds in mental health hospitals are some of the key provisions that can be opted to resolve this, which will also help reduce crime,” he suggested, highlighting one of last year’s incident in Sydney, where a man previously on psychiatry medication killed six people at a mall.

“The problem of homeless mentally ill people is on rise in the western countries, especially in the US, and I am of the view that the number is rising in India also, given the increasing number of homes for homeless mentally ill people in the last 10-15 years,” said Dr Isaac.

The lecture is held annually in the memory of Dr NN Wig, who founded the institute’s psychiatry department in 1963, heading it till 1980. He continued to be associated with the department as one of its emeritus professors till July 2018, when he passed away at the age of 88.