The State of Mental Health of Indians in the Diaspora

By Dr. Kumar Mahabir & Shalima Mohommed

Mental health is our emotional, psychological and social well-being, impacting how we think, feel, act and handle stress to make choices and relate to others. World Mental Health Day was observed on October 10th. The 2025 World Mental Health Day theme was “Access to Services - Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies.” The theme emphasized the critical need to provide mental health support to people affected by disasters, conflicts and other large-scale emergencies. The mental health of Indians in the diaspora is influenced by a complex mix of cultural expectations, identity struggles and pressures to succeed in foreign environments. Many face challenges such as isolation, racism and the stigma surrounding mental health which can prevent them from seeking help.

The following are excerpts from an Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC) Thought Leaders’ Forum (12/10/2025). The ZOOM program was chaired by Shakira Mohommed and moderated by Shalima Mohammed, both from Trinidad. There were (3) speakers in the program. The topic was “The State of Mental Health of Indians in the Diaspora.” See the unedited recording of the program: https://www.youtube.com/@dmahab/streams.

DR. SATHYA D. of India said: “Regarding the mental health situation in Suriname and Guyana: In 2014, Guyana ranked first in the world for suicide rates per capita. Although the government and various NGOs took some initiatives to address this issue, by 2019, it still ranked second globally. In the case of Suriname, in 2024, it ranked sixth worldwide in suicide rates, with 36% of cases occurring among adolescents. Studies suggest that Indian descendants face various mental health issues, especially high suicide rates. Almost every article identifies causes of such mental health issues primarily as individual, familial, and to some extent, as economic. But there is a dearth of person-centred, experience-near, qualitative research that maps structural violence, systemic changes and historical influence of indentureship. High suicide rates among Indian descendants of indentured labourers are not only a scenario in Suriname and Guyana, but also in other postcolonial indentured countries. Hence, there is a pressing need for a paradigm shift of mental health research from individual issues to politico-economic, historical and structural issues.”

DR. ALBERT PERSAUD (England/Guyana) said. “Some of the most common features of depression are social withdrawal, irritability, poor sleep, thoughts of suicide, neglect and sadness. In other words, it is a miserable feeling. One of the most common features amongst our community and the South Asian community is the way we express mental pain in terms of somatization. People will express their mental pain through things like: “Oh, I have a back pain, I have a neck pain, my neck hurts, my head hurts all day.” We need to be conscious of that .., that if you’re saying your neck hurts, your head hurts all day, it does not mean you have got a blood clot that is causing the pain, it means that is how the person is expressing it. All cultures tend to express emotional pain through the heart.

“I quote the Careif report: ‘The Health Needs of the Indo-Caribbean Community in the United Kingdom’ launched on October 10^th in London. The absence of a category designating ‘Indo-Caribbean’ as a unique category in the UK Census was identified as a major barrier to obtaining vital epidemiological data on the UK’s Indo-Caribbean population. The report lists six recommendations, including the need for the census and statutory services to utilise the category of Indo-Caribbean, and the need to fill the knowledge void by conducting studies that focus on this community, rather than grouping them together with South Asians.”

DR. MIRANDA R. DEEBRAH (USA) said. “I see the Indo-Caribbean identity … the beauty and the pain of it. Having our stories told is vital for healing. That is one reason I love being a therapist: I get to recognize people’s strength and help them see it too, especially when depression clouds their view of themselves. Joy is also essential to healing. Our lineage is rooted in pain. So reconnecting with cultural practices that bring comfort and joy helps us cope. We carry two layers of trauma, the inherited pain of our ancestors and the struggles of our present lives. For those who have migrated, the experience of migration itself is a form of trauma. And that is what forced displacement does to people. It forces us to adapt, to survive, but we need to find the things that make us come alive again which is essential to our healing. Part of our healing is removing the shame tied to our identity as descendants of Indian indentureds and embracing it with pride. Though our ancestors were exploited and abused, their strength and endurance made our existence possible for us to rise to our full potential and share our stories with one another.”

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