The National Health Mission of India says around 6%-7% of India’s population suffers from mental health problems.
But the stigma around mental health wellness doesn’t encourage many people to reach out for help, especially professional help or therapy.
However, thanks to technology, there are reliable remote alternatives available to seek acceptance and share your emotions. In fact, many mental health start-ups in India have come up with inspired ways to erase misconceptions and support people in their mental healthcare journey.
Here are 5 of them.
1. YourDOST
YourDOST is your virtual buddy that makes it easier for you to understand your feelings and validate your emotions. Through its user-friendly interface, the technology lends you not just an ear but also the best minds in the wellness industry, with over 1000 experts available on the platform. It offers you the benefit of sharing your discomfort anonymously, removing unwanted pressure and judgment. Their 24*7 expert involvement also helps, guides, and, most importantly, supports you in finding simple ways to address your concerns.
Source: YourDost on Google Play
So far, the team has conducted over 25 Lakh sessions where people have shared their concerns through online chat sessions, voice/video calls, and 1:1 personalized sessions with the choice of their expert.
2. Evolve
In 2017, if Anshul Kamath had known that his fascination with human behavior would enable intuitive mental wellness for countless Indians, he wouldn’t have believed it. After being diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune disease, Anshul realized the gravity of mental health issues, especially in a widely conservative country like India. His experience in conducting mental health and wellness workshops by collaborating with psychologists and other experts made him more empathetic and driven to contribute to this cause.
His passion gave birth to Evolve in 2019 — another encouraging catalyst in the Indian mental wellness space. While Anshul and his team are focused on helping you manage your emotions to sleep well, de-stress, boost productivity, and enhance overall mental health, they also wanted to make the process simple and joyful. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his team designed contextual content that would relate to every user’s current state of mind. It included concepts around reducing loneliness, income uncertainty and enhancing productivity.
Source: Evolve on Google Play
With over 100,000 users worldwide, Anshul and his team are simplifying mental health on a larger scale.
As an inclusive and forward-looking health-tech company, Evolve also has contextualized journeys for the LGBTQ+ community. It aims to address the severity of relatively low mental health attention for the neglected community.
3. Wysa
Aren’t there days when all you need is someone to listen to you without judgment? Meet Wysa – an AI chatbot designed as a cute and approachable penguin. It uses natural language understanding to interpret voice and text input and guide people using personalized evidence-based cognitive behavioral techniques (CBT). From suggesting physical activities for relaxation to just hearing you out, it makes you feel better just the way you would like. Here’s a snippet of our conversation with the app’s demo version, available on their website.
Source: Wysa Demo
To know why this app enjoys a 4.8+ rating on both Google Play and App Store, watch this story of a mother and daughter who improved their mental health with Wysa. In fact, in a study conducted on 129 global users of the app, regular users reported a 40% improvement in self-reported symptoms of depression when compared to infrequent users.
Since 2015, Wysa has been accessed by people across 65 countries. To expand access to mental health further, Jo Aggarwal, co-founder, and CEO of Wysa, said the company plans to develop Wysa in local languages.
4. Amaha (Inner Hour)
The Amaha app immediately appeals to users with its personalized plans comprising 600+ tools. It has a chatbot named Allie that suggests relaxing activities, articles, and daily reminders. Additionally, the app has self-help courses, a mood tracker, and even a journal to jot down your feelings, making it a digital powerhouse of mental health resources.
Source: Amaha
The best part is, along with connecting you with 60+ in-house therapists and psychiatrists, it gives you access to their growing community of over 10,000 members, which is a safe space to share your struggles and seek peer support from people across the globe. On their website, you’ll also find help for caregivers of people dealing with mental health issues.
5. manas
On April 13, 2021, Prof.K.VijayRaghavan, Former Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, virtually launched a mental health app ‘manas’ (Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System). Implemented by NIMHANS Bengaluru, AFMC Pune, and C-DAC Bengaluru, the app is developed based on life skills and core psychological processes and provides age-appropriate methods for all age groups.
Source: Manas on Google Play
This national digital wellbeing platform has features like well-researched interventions, evidence-based measures, personalized content dissipation, sleep and mindfulness trackers, and more. To emphasize the importance of mental well-being among common citizens, the app integrates the health and wellness efforts of various government ministries and expert mental health professionals.
Thanks to the influence of technology in our daily lives and Indian startups actively using it to help people improve their well-being in an anonymous setting without compromising on the quality of support, the outlook for Indian mental health is expected to get better — for the users, their dependents, and India as a whole.
Written together with Dashmeet Kaur
