They are viewed as crazy and are often kept chained in cages. Many times they have to live as outcasts or they are kept hidden in order not to bring shame to their families. Still, the mentally ill have been forgotten in international development work. Medical doctors who go as tentmakers may make a difference.
Manmaya Taman in Nepal is one of these mentally ill people. 18 years ago she was locked up in a small room. Since then she has been treated like an animal. She has been allowed to leave her little shack only two times a day in order to go to the toilet.
“I was forced to lock her up. Even after spending a great deal of money on medicine she did not get better. She was creating a lot of trouble in our village,” says Manmaya´s former husband, Til Bahadur Tamang, to the Nepali newspaper Kantipur Daily.
Forgotten victims
Manmaya Tamang is not unique. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most people with mental illnesses do not receive proper treatment. The treatment available is worst in poor nations. WHO indicates that depression will be the most common disease worldwide in a few years.
Coordinator Michelle Funk in WHO Mind says that the development organizations have let down the mentally ill.
“People with mental illnesses are often victims of violence and abuse because no one is protecting them. They also have no political or civil rights. When they are not included in our fight for human rights, they will lose the chance of getting an education and work,” says the WHO Mind-coordinator.
Total change
Matrika Devkota in Nepal is one of the lucky ones who did receive help. When he was 15, he got the first signals that he was depressed. The illness got worse, and from age 19 he lived in total isolation inside his high caste family.
“People around me thought I was tormented by evil spirits. Even today people with mental illnesses are often seen as possessed,” he says.
One day Matrika Devkota got in touch with a development worker who made the correct diagnosis and gave him the right medication. His situation changed totally and today he is running an organization focusing on helping people with mental illnesses.