On that day in February, as a torrent of memes and leaked photos filled his phone screen, a ray of hope appeared for Kumar: An account, @Hemant_Mahajan18, promised to cure anxiety “permanently without medication.” With more than 12,000 followers and claims to have helped a couple thousand people, Mahajan’s “Happy Living” program seemed like just what Kumar needed. It claimed to “cure stress and anxiety in 28 days from the root cause” and guaranteed a 100 percent refund if there was no improvement.
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Intrigued, Kumar scheduled an initial consultation for Rs 245. “On the consultation call, they said my physical symptoms were due to mental issues,” Kumar recalls. They offered services at a discounted rate of Rs 27,000, down from the previous Rs 33,000. “The person I spoke to pressured me to borrow money from friends and family, promising relief,” he says. The program required him to attend hour-long group sessions for a week in which he would be taught how to overcome anxiety.
Kumar never questioned the credentials of those running the program, which they called the 3 Rs: Acknowledge (the symptom), Release (through inhalation and exhalation) and Reframe (reimagining the situation in a positive way).
Dr Anindita Majumdar, associate professor of psychology at Woxsen University in Hyderabad, says this won’t help. “When someone has anxiety, some groups therapy “Sessions that use permutations and combinations of different techniques are never going to work. Firstly, it is essential to determine whether the person has a correctly diagnosed anxiety disorder, which only a qualified professional can do. Anxiety disorders are broad-spectrum with specific diagnoses and treatments,” she adds.
Sessions on Zoom and Google Meet didn’t help Kumar. When he told them his condition wasn’t improving, he says, he received responses like, “Do you want to get better or waste your time trying to figure out what’s wrong with you?”
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Frustrated, Kumar decided to claim a refund, but the company’s legal team put the blame on him. In an email, they accused him of “not giving up” on the exercises. “You were in continuous denial mode, so the refund policy does not apply to you,” they wrote. ET has seen a copy of this email. “My parents have no idea about my experience. I wanted to go to the police, but I couldn’t reveal this to my family,” it reads. @Hemant_Mahajan18 did not respond to ET’s queries. Kumar’s story may not be unique. Post-Covid-19, as the long-term pandemic and lockdowns caused stress, anxiety and a heightened awareness of mental health Mental disorders, there has been a flood of accounts on Instagram creating content about mental health and wellbeing, promising to cure anxiety and depression. Many give advice without any qualifications.
They exploit a huge gap in the mental health sector: the lack of enough qualified professionals In India, where, according to the WHO, there are only 0.3 psychiatrists and 0.07 psychologists per 100,000 people; people are reluctant to see a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist for fear of social stigma; and a general difficulty in accessing affordable mental health care. On average, a therapy session can cost between Rs 1,500 and Rs 4,500 in metropolises and Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 in non-metropolitan areas.
It doesn’t help
The proliferation of unqualified professionals online has raised concerns about potential harm to people seeking help. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of Instagram accounts discussing mental health and wellbeing increased by almost 70% (from 5,062 to 8,562). Now, according to Qoruz, an influencer marketing and analytics company that analysed nearly 500,000 creators in India, these accounts have increased to 11,894.
Dr Jamuna Rajeswaran, head of the department of psychology at NIMHANS, Bengaluru, sees the explosion of “solutions” being offered on Instagram as a threat. “Mental health issues are complicated. We need to address the person holistically, which may require 10-15 sessions.” She adds that while awareness about mental health has increased since the pandemic, many people still lack the knowledge to choose the right professional for treatment.
Electronic technologyThere has also been an increase in the number of influencers on YouTube, from 629 in 2022 to 950 in 2023 and 1,224 now, but the absolute numbers are higher on Instagram due to the ease of uploading and editing videos on the platform.
Some of these social media accounts are, in fact, legitimate – qualified professionals who destigmatise mental health and post educational content. However, it is worrying that there has been a notable increase in the number of life and wellness coaches offering services to address depression and anxiety for as little as Rs 89.
Degrees of specialization
Most of these “life coaches” do not have a degree in psychology, but they make a kaleidoscope of promises: “say no to stress forever,” no “addictive medications” or “expensive therapies.”
Alok Taunk, who has around 49,000 followers on Instagram, offers courses for Rs 99 to de-stress “without investing in expensive programmes and therapies”, though his background is in marketing and communication. Taunk tells ET that what he shares with his participants is based on his personal experiences.
Some of these “life coaches” may have a certification in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which claims to use language patterns to help people change their thoughts, but which experts say is not an evidence-based form of treatment. For example, Lalit Taneja, who has more than 20,000 followers on Instagram, calls himself an “anxiety and confidence coach” and an “NLP master trainer.” In an Instagram ad, he claims his “simple framework” has helped “hundreds… overcome chronic anxiety without any medication.” He did not respond to ET’s queries in Instagram messages.
ET’s query to Instagram about its policy on monitoring accounts about mental health has not been responded to at the time of writing.
“When it comes to mental health diagnosis, it is not appropriate to say that NLP is a form of psychotherapy or treatment,” says Rupa Chaubal, consultant psychologist and president of Psychologists Collective, Maharashtra. “Most life coaches assume that NLP techniques can ‘transform’ a person. This shows a lack of awareness about mental health and mocks those who suffer from symptoms. Life coaches are not mental health professionals and it is important that they do not use diagnostic terms or claim that this is a ‘treatment’ for mental health conditions.”
Raj Mariwala, director of the Mariwala Health Initiative, which provides grants to nonprofits serving marginalized communities, agrees: “The blurring of lines between mental health professionals and life coaches is concerning because a responsible life coach would have to include a statement in every post indicating that they are not a certified mental health professional.”
In a country with just over 3,000 registered clinical psychologists, most of them concentrated in large cities, access to qualified help can seem like a luxury.
Shweta (not her real name), a 24-year-old architect from Jaipur, says she turned to online courses and mental health groups because therapy was too expensive. “I paid Rs 1,000 per session for six therapy sessions before I had to stop,” she says. “Then I found this course on Instagram for Rs 89. Now I mostly journal and participate in online mental health groups.”
Experts ET spoke to agree that not everyone needs to seek professional help and that certain levels of stress can be alleviated with support from friends, family, colleagues and local community programs.
The problem of unqualified mental health “experts” is not limited to Instagram. Nikita Sahay, a 28-year-old psychologist from Bengaluru, shares the story of her cousin Raj (not his real name) from Agra. Searching for help online, Raj came across a Google ad for an “award-winning clinical psychologist.” The professional even prescribed him anti-anxiety medication, something only a psychiatrist is authorised to do.
“She claimed to be a licensed clinical psychologist, but she only had a postgraduate diploma in psychology,” says Sahay, who looked her up on the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) website. A diploma holder cannot become a licensed clinical psychologist. “Mental health influencers often promote short-term solutions to anxiety, such as meditation, and people tend to be drawn to quick fixes rather than long-term strategies,” he says.
In India, psychology needs its own council to effectively govern, supervise and license, Chaubal says. Currently, clinical psychologists are governed by the RCI under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, while other psychologists are overseen by the National Commission for Allied and Health Professions under the Ministry of Health. “This discrepancy can lead to different standards of practice and regulation, which is inadequate,” Chaubal adds.
Meanwhile, how can mental health influencers be regulated? The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has no explicit guidelines for “mental health.” Last August, it amended its guidelines for influencers in the health and finance space. Health influencers must “display their qualifications and registration/certification details prominently on all types of promotional material.”
Among health influencers are mental health influencers. “While mental health influencers are not a distinct category, the guidelines for health influencers and the code in general provide adequate cover for violations should we receive a complaint,” says Manisha Kapoor, CEO and secretary general of ASCI. It is a mental field that needs to be cleared.
