Mental Health Status and Socio-demographic Profile of Distress Callers on a Mental Health Helpline during COVID-19

The aim of this paper is to present the socio demographic profile and mental health status of the distress callers, during COVID-19 in Delhi, Gujarat and Jharkhand. The survey was undertaken between June 2021 and October 2022. It was largely representative of the population as 577,239 people were from households of 26 districts of Delhi, Jharkhand and Gujarat. The survey population aged 15 to 65 years. 473,970 people were screened for anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts (if scores severe on screening). Conditions which they were facing were explored by a semi structured script accompanied with PHQ4 as a screening tool. The overall response rate was 87.79%. This paper presents selected findings for the pattern and sociodemographic profile of the people screened. Inferences and conclusion: People who identify as LGBTQIA2S+ reported higher proportions of moderate and severe mental health issues. Respondents <18 contributed higher proportions of moderate and severe mental issues. Unmarried, divorced, separated and widowed people reported to face higher proportions of moderate and severe mental issues. Unemployed people and students reported higher proportions of moderate and severe mental issues.