Mental Distress and Help-Seeking among Tribal Communities in Darjeeling: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Cultural ideas, familial ties, and social experiences all have an impact on how different people and societies understand mental anguish. Decisions to seek assistance and care preferences may be influenced by these understandings. However, there is still a dearth of research that explicitly looks at mental distress and help-seeking among the various indigenous populations in West Bengal's Darjeeling area. The conceptualization of mental distress, sources of support, help-seeking processes, and obstacles to mental healthcare among tribal and Indigenous groups in India are all examined in this systematic review, with a focus on data from Darjeeling.

Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus searches were used to find pertinent material published between 1975 and 2026. Reference-list searches and pertinent publisher sources were also used. Thematic synthesis was used to analyze the included literature. There were 48 distinct records, including reviews, empirical research, and other pertinent publications. Cultural and social explanations of mental distress, family, community, and traditional support, multiple and context-dependent treatment routes, stigma and service obstacles, and social and structural determinants of mental health were the five main themes that surfaced.

According to the findings, family members, community networks, traditional and religious practitioners, and official healthcare agencies may all be involved in responding to mental discomfort. Decisions to seek assistance may be impacted by stigma, geographic accessibility, pricing, trust, and service availability. However, only one of the included studies explicitly looked at local viewpoints on children's mental health in Darjeeling, and it didn't look at the district's indigenous groups' use of mental health services. Therefore, rather than offering concrete proof of the experiences of the Lepcha, Bhutia, and Adivasi populations in Darjeeling, the larger Indian literature offers contextual perspectives. In order to provide culturally sensitive mental health treatments, more community-based research is required to comprehend local conceptions of distress and care routes.