On World Mental Health Day, Indian doctors pledged to care for their own minds too

Six mental-health organizations — the India Mental Health Alliance, Indian Psychiatric Society, Indian Teachers of Psychiatry, World Psychiatric Association Zone 15, the UK's Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and ASHA Kerala — joined forces to launch the Humanising Medicine India Initiative on World Mental Health Day, October 10. It centers on two commitments: an individual 'Care for Self Pledge' for doctors, and a 'Culture of Care Charter' through which institutions across India commit to safer conversations around lived experience and help-seeking. The launch cites stark figures: depressive symptoms in about one in two undergraduate medical students, and a tertiary-hospital study where 30.1% of resident doctors and faculty screened positive for depression and more than 90% reported some level of burnout.