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India, and the world, are currently going through a mental health epidemic, further exacerbated by the pandemic and isolation — almost everyone around us has faced mental health challenges at one point or another in their life. We see a lot of people opening up about it on social media these days.

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But, there is an accessibility gap between patients and trusted healthcare professionals. Rocket Health uses technology to enable access to high-quality, affordable healthcare by reducing geographical constraints and tackling societal stigma at the same time. Indian healthcare is not built with the patient experience at the forefront — we’re changing that.

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During our first year, we interacted with 65,000+ users who spent a minimum of 4 minutes each with us sharing how they are feeling. Here’s what we learnt from them:

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Who is seeking online care?

People of all ages come to Rocket Health for mental healthcare — whether they are starting their journey for the first time, are transitioning to digital care from offline care, or just want more from their ongoing journey.

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It’s no surprise that 97% of our audience is under the age of 41; they’re always thinking online first — from ordering groceries to their doorstep to accessing healthcare online.

We found that for every 10 people that came to us, 8 were females and 2 were males.

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Where are our users coming from?

While people in tier 1 cities in India comprise almost 51% of our users, it is refreshing to see that tier 2 and 3 cities in India are equally accessing care. We all know that there is an unequal distribution of professionals across India with more density in metro cities but the above data just goes on to show that with the help of online care, we are bridging this gap.

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This also goes on to show that conversations around mental health are reaching far and wide and that the stigma, in its own way, is decreasing.

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What brings them to Rocket Health?

When asked how are you feeling today, a majority of our users answered that they were sad and stressed.

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However, it is striking to see that out of 65000+ respondents, only 6% were happy and 4% were relaxed. On the contrary, it is heartening to see that people who are experiencing positive emotions are also taking a step toward their mental health.

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We asked our users specific questions about any behavioural changes that they’ve observed in themselves. Some of these insights were very hard-hitting:

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Even though we are constantly connected with each other through social media and smartphones, 65% of our respondents said that they felt lonely in life. To be honest with you, we don’t need a research report to probably reinforce this — loneliness is a feeling almost all of us share but hardly talk about.

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But this doesn’t just stop at being lonely. Even with something as passive as watching television, almost 84% of people struggled with not being able to concentrate.

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We also found out that a majority of our respondents had little to no energy to perform daily tasks. This isn’t so surprising given that 84% had issues with sleeping too much, too little, or having poor sleep. Add to this factors like stress, burnout, and loneliness — you can understand why people’s quality of life is being negatively impacted.

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What comes as a shocker was that almost 64% had self-harm thoughts at some point in their life; and out of these folks, 24% have had self-harm thoughts nearly every day.

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Sexual health Issues are also psychological

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With an uptick in mental health awareness, people are more open to addressing psychological blockers to sexual health issues as well — 50% of our sexual health users said that they would want to take therapy along with their doctor consultation.

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Couples therapy is for everyone

The main reasons why users wanted couples’ therapy was either to resolve conflict or to improve communication — both married and unmarried couples seek therapy equally.

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We had a near middle split with respondents who lived with their partners and those who did not.

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ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) is on the rise

Through our interactions with users who came to us for ADHD concerns, 66% of them were genZ.

Here are the common challenges which they are facing:

• 78% said that they were unable to unwind and relax
• 86% of people said that they’ve had trouble wrapping up the final parts of a project once the more challenging parts were done
• 91% of respondents said that they are restless and fidgety.

ADHD symptoms are often misdiagnosed with other conditions and self-diagnosis via social media can make it more confusing. If you’re concerned, it’s always best to get a professional assessment done.

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How did Rocket Health help in 2022?

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In 2022, we facilitated 17,000+ consultations, hosted numerous events for our community and most importantly, touched the lives of millions of Indians through our community, healthcare and content.

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Community

We wanted to build something that serves our users beyond the therapy sessions. In July 2022, we started our Cancel Stigma community on Discord where users can hang out, chat, support each other, and participate in events. We held more than 200 free events — from support groups held by psychologists to music sessions to hangouts for more than 3000 people.

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Care First

The healthcare system is not built with patient experience at the forefront. At Rocket Health, we are trying to change that. Our robust care team helps ensure that the users have a great experience and that all their queries are sorted out as quickly as possible.

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Quality Healthcare

Rocket Health ensures the best possible quality of healthcare for users. We go through a rigorous screening and interview process while onboarding healthcare professionals to our team. This process allows us to gauge if a professional’s working style aligns with our own.

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Our healthcare professionals overcome geographical constraints and provide care in 12 different languages — enabling us to reduce any language barriers that can hinder access to healthcare.

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The mental health epidemic is here, and it is here to stay — open social media, hang out with friends, or spend time with coworkers, you will find it everywhere around you. We are proud to play a small role by providing seamless access to quality healthcare to millions of Indians. Everyday, we see people take consults from their cars, offices, and rooftops — anywhere and everywhere. This is just the beginning of building healthcare infrastructure for India and giving people a safe space right on their smartphones.
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- Abhineet, Founder at Rocket Health

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Methodology

Rocket Health’s mental health report was done by studying the data collected between the months of January 2022 to December 2022. This data was gathered via multiple clinical surveys given out to 61665 people for different conditions.

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We believe that it is important to acknowledge that our study has some limitations. All surveys are subject to sampling and response bias and measurement error. Despite limitations, we used best survey practices and believe our findings add valuable insights to the mental health landscape in India.