India Does Not Have Enough Registered Psychologists For Mental Health Care And Suicide Prevention: Study

India has been talking more openly about mental health than ever before. Even in this year's budget, the Indian government has taken initiatives like setting up of a NIMHANS-2 and upgrading National Mental Health Institutes in Ranchi and Tezpur. According to the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) 2015-16 conducted by NIMHANS, 10.6% of adults in India are affected by mental disorders. The survey also reported that the lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in India is 13.7%. Now, the conversation has certainly grown louder from student counselling cells to workplace wellness programmes. But a recent study published in the Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology suggests that behind the encouraging headlines lies a worrying reality: India has far too few registered clinical psychologists, and an even smaller number are actively practising.

What does the study highlight

The study shows what researchers are describing as a serious bottleneck in the country's mental health workforce. At a time when stress, anxiety, depression and student suicides are pertaining public health concerns, the supply of qualified, licensed professionals appears insufficient.

The research set out to examine a crucial gap. It looked at the relationship between the Rehabilitation Council of India's officially recognised training programmes and the qualifications of professionals listed in the Central Rehabilitation Register. The idea was simple yet significant: are the people registered as clinical psychologists properly mapped to recognised training pathways, and how many of them are active?

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To answer this, the researchers analysed the data from the Central Rehabilitation Register, focusing on two categories: "Clinical Psychologist" and "Rehabilitation Psychologist". They extracted details about qualifications, registration status, whether active or inactive, and the types of courses completed. The data were organised into tables and summarised using frequencies and percentages to get a clearer picture of the workforce landscape.

What they found is cause for concern

Analysis says there were 3,890 professionals listed under the "Clinical Psychologist" category. Of these, there are ly 2,900 were marked as "Active". The remaining 990 were classified as "Not Active". In simple terms, roughly one in four registered clinical psychologists was not practising at the time the data were examined. Alone the data here speaks the volumes. Even before accounting for India's vast population and growing mental health needs, losing nearly a quarter of the registered workforce to inactivity significantly narrows access to care.

Since the data discloses the low overall numbers, a proportion of professionals who are incompetent and inconsistent in documentation linking training qualifications to registration categories. These inconsistencies make it harder to assess workforce standards and plan effectively.

A study also issued a word of caution against the assumption that declarations of such policies would bring strength to mental health services. Over the past few years, many institutions have come forward with declarations of counselling facilities and suicide prevention mechanisms. However, without qualified and verifiably licensed professionals, these declarations run the risk of being solely symbolic in nature.

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This issue has assumed even greater importance in recent times due to various guidelines issued by the Supreme Court on student mental health, as well as preventing student suicides. Educational institutions are increasingly under pressure to develop effective systems of mental health support. But a counseling center is as good as the staff it employs. Qualified clinical psychologists cannot be replaced by ad hoc arrangements.

The findings of this study therefore raise an important question: how can India expand access to mental health services when the licensed workforce itself is limited and partially inactive?

Three immediate priorities of the report

The report outlines three immediate priorities. First, the training capacity must expand. This means increasing seats in recognised programmes and strengthening institutions that produce licensable clinical psychologists. Without scaling high quality training pathways, the supply-demand gap will only widen.

Second, mapping and rules of equivalence for qualification need to be standardised and further made transparent. There should be a clear alignment between the recognised courses and the registration categories to retain standards in the workforce. A clean and transparent licensing pipeline allows institutions and patients to have confidence in the credentials of professionals.

Third, avoidable inactivity should be reduced. Some professionals may be marked inactive due to administrative reasons such as renewal delays, unclear status updates or lapses in documentation. Improving renewal systems, sending timely reminders and providing clearer information about registration status could help bring some qualified professionals back into the active pool.

Taken together, these steps may not solve the crisis overnight, but they can strengthen the foundation of India's mental health workforce. As awareness grows and more people are becoming aware to seek help, the country needs more than conversations and circulars. There is an urgent need of trained, licensed and professionals who are active to deliver evidence based care. The study serves as a timely reminder that mental health reform must focus not only on policies and infrastructure, but also on the people who make care possible. In a nation of over a billion people, ensuring an adequate and active cadre of clinical psychologists is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

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