Rajput’s death case has stigmatised mental health, feels Dr Pathare

With increased focus on mental health this year, many feel the conversation around the subject has evolved, especially after actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. However, Dr Soumitra Pathare, director at Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, disagrees. “If anything, this case (Rajput’s death) has worsened and stigmatised mental health. People are openly saying that one can’t be depressed unless they are weak or not successful. That has a very negative impact on the masses. It doesn’t help the cause at all,” he says.

Legality around mental health and patient-doctor confidentiality, too, is under the spotlight. Recently, Mumbai-based counsellor

Susan Walker revealed that Rajput was bipolar, which led many to question the legality of the revelation. While Dr Pathare says there is “no grey area around confidentiality agreement”, he adds that the law in “many countries” allows professionals to break confidentiality in public interest.

“However, public interest is not defined. Generally, this is interpreted as a risk to a third party from a patient. In this case, the patient is dead and the risk to third party is from the public that was looking at possible mob lynching,” Dr Pathare explains, adding that he doesn’t see any other motive on the part of counsellor.

However, he feels that there are ways of talking about mental health without “revealing” much details. He adds, “We should examine the ethics of everyone involved in this case, including politicians and Bollywood personalities. We should ask how right was it to discuss and ridicule or pass judgement like this... Look at things within a context.”