Innovative mental health initiatives in India: A scope for strengthening primary healthcare services

Mental health burden is a major health concern worldwide. In the last few decades, we are witnessing innovations that are successfully addressing gaps in the mental health service delivery in Indian context. This is an opportune time to explore existing innovative mental health initiatives in the country and integrate viable interventions to primary healthcare facilities to strengthen public mental healthcare delivery. The descriptive review of literature on innovative mental health programs in India was carried out. The initial search from google scholar and PubMed database yielded 1152 articles, of which 1114 were excluded that did not meet inclusion criteria. Full texts of 38 articles were reviewed and finally 22 studies were included for the study. Based on the review, most innovations are broadly summarized into five categories: (1) quality improvement mental health programs; (2) community-based mental health programs; 3) non-specialist mental health programs, 4) mobile-technology based mental health programs, 5) tele-mental health programs. These promising innovations in treatment and care can be customized as per the context for scale up and integrated into the primary healthcare system through District Mental Health Programme. The innovative approach not only makes mental health services more accessible and affordable but also empowering in nature by encouraging community members in early detection, prevention of mental illness and appropriate treatment referral to existing primary health care services.