The mental health impact of caste and structural inequalities in higher education in India

Abstract

This study aimed to identify how mental health practice and policy in India can better address the needs of Dalit women and men in Indian institutions of higher education. Left unexamined, psychiatric and mental health practices and policies have become complicit in a legal and political network that actively denies the reality of caste discrimination in modern India. Frequently, Dalit students who choose to end their lives are described as having personal problems and depression, which enables institutional authorities to circumvent legal justice against caste discrimination and violence. Using an anthropological methodology of close readings of Dalit biographies and a review of ethnographic research, government reports, and online documentaries on the experiences of Dalit men and women, this study suggests that mental health practice and policy can change confidentiality laws, decriminalize student support groups, and build networks of institutional and policy support for Dalit students.