A 45-year-old female, Nisha, from rural Maharashtra, speaks Marathi as her mother tongue. After experiencing a traumatic event, which got her into PTSD, depression and anxiety. She began to get help, but it was hard to come by because there were only English-speaking therapists near her. This made it hard to say what she was feeling and thinking to them. Just like Nisha, every person in the rural areas experiences these problems and doesn’t address them.
India, a country rich in culture and heritage, has almost 1.5 billion people and has almost 780 languages and 22 scheduled languages with hundreds of additional dialects and local languages. The most commonly spoken language is “Hindi”, and other languages too. In the midst of the communication, the field of psychology is conducted in English, and increasingly practitioners also use Hindi, excluding other languages. This language dominance becomes a major problem in accessing the mental health issues of individuals and other factors.
Barriers to access
Language Barriers refer to the difficulties that individuals face when they are not able to share a common language with the other party’s limited language skills, resulting in ineffective communication and misunderstanding. It’s very similar to Nisha’s situation, in which she was not able to express her emotions due to language barriers. There are types of barriers in communication, they are:
1. Different languages and dialects in our area
According to statistics, more than 7000 languages are spoken worldwide, leading to language diversity. Therefore, different languages and different dialects in the same language become difficult to understand. Their grammar, sentence structure become more challenging for the individual to address the mental issues they face in society.
Read More: Does Language Shape Our Emotional Worldview?
2. Language complexity and fluency
The language complexity and fluency are difficult in particular languages, and individuals with other languages find it difficult to understand in express themselves clearly. Poor vocabulary, grammar lead to an unstable flow of communication.
3. Limited vocabulary and language skills
It refers to the lack of language proficiency to convey thoughts, ideas, and emotions when they have a restricted vocabulary and struggle to express themselves. It can also limit the ability to understand meaningful conversations and concepts.
Challenges in Expression
Language is a powerful tool for communication; it is a vessel for emotional and cultural expression in the mental health care areas. It can naturally articulate emotions in one’s native language. When the individual doesn’t express their thoughts and emotions, it directly leads to psychological distress. There are two ways, such as inhibited self-expression and code-switching speech, where the issues cannot be addressed and lead to misunderstanding.
Read More: How Alexithymia, Psychological Distress, and PTSD Symptoms Interact Over Time
1. Inhibited Self-Expression
Some Indians are more comfortable in thinking and expressing complex emotions in English, due to their schooling and media influence. Common voices on Reddit highlight that Indian mother tongues often lack rich vocabulary for mental health problems and leading to difficulty in emotional self-articulation in these languages.
2. Code-Switching Speech
There is a common practice in India, called “Code-switching”, such as using their mother tongue and other languages in the same conversation. For example, Rahul, who lives in Delhi, has a common conversation with his family by using his mother tongue, “Tamil”, and Hindi in it. This broader understanding enhances and at the same time complicates assessment and therapy when shifting the language between them.
Regional mental health disparities
India’s mental health landscape is marked by stark regional disparities. Urban centres offer relatively more mental health services, but these are predominantly in English or Hindi. In contrast to the rural areas, they have only minimal access to care. For example, in Northeast India, languages like Khasi, Mizo or Bodo dominate the most, but the mental health resources are very scarce. There are some ways in which the mental health care services are not available in rural areas and are affected by it.
Read More: Why Mental Health Care Still Doesn’t Reach Rural Minority Communities
1. Limited regional initiative
Efforts done by the non-governmental organisations for Vandrevala Foundation and MINDS Foundation have highlighted the importance of regional-language mental health support. Vandrevala is an organisation that operates helplines in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and other regional languages and on the other hand, MINDS embeds mental-health education and intervention in local communities to reduce stigma. These two organisations have done a great job in initiating the limited regional disparities.
Read More: Mental Health Awareness in Rural Areas
2. Lack of therapists in other regional languages
Mostly licensed psychologists and therapists in India operate in English and Hindi. And some patients come from all around the world and face confidentiality issues or are reluctant to engage in providing information they can’t understand. For instance, Priya went to a therapist recommended by her. When she was about to explain her problem, the therapist said that “I couldn’t understand what you’re speaking?”, as he knew only Hindi and not Tamil. This made her explain it to another person, and she felt confidentiality issues.
3. Tools lack linguistic relevance
Psychologists use questionnaires and other experiments to analyse the issue with the individual, and some questionnaires lack the regional-language support, which makes both the patient and the therapist to assess. In recent days, the use of chatbots in India has done a wonderful job in linguistically designing the relevant questionnaire to enhance adoption and impact.
Why language diversity matters in the field of Psychology
- Access to trust: Psychological care in one’s native language creates trust, clarity and emotional safety. When patients can express their feelings in their mother tongue, the care becomes inclusive and accessible. In Priya’s story, when she started to express her feelings and emotions to her known language person, it made her feel good.
- Cultural Sensitivity and Relevance: understanding language expressions, metaphors, and the culturally self-induced symptoms requires a local language voice. Culturally sensitive intervention must be spoken in their language format and norms to be very effective.
- Representation and knowledgeability: Some researchers have published in English from a clinician’s perspective and not in other languages. This bias skews the national mental health data, hides policies and reinforces marginalisation. When the research is published in every language, it allows the therapist and client to benefit.
How to blend psychology and language for the welfare of society
The ways the language and the psychology can be blended is developing initial awareness toward and the efforts we give in. If Priya had a therapist of her native language, she wouldn’t have any issues explaining the problem. And these steps are futuristic-based; they are
1. Developing psychometric tools based on the regional language
As mentioned, questionnaires are based on English and not on other languages. By developing other languages, revised questionnaires help the individual to assess, score, and evaluate the clients. Some things that can be changed are – translating and validating screening scales, questionnaires, psychoeducation materials; turning these into other regional languages is the best thing that can be done.
2. Training multilingual clinicians and counsellors
Psychology is the field that incorporates human behaviour and nature. If we don’t get to know what our clients explain, then the assessment will be done. By training the therapists, counsellors, and psychologists in other languages can be competent and promote the recruitment process in the regional language settings.
3. Suggesting regional-language publication and Newsletters
Our government should initiate by promoting newsletters, journals, and publications into other languages, which helps the rural area people to understand more about psychology. Initiatives done by Kerala “Manashasthra Varthamanam” newsletter to bridge psychology and the public by communicating in Malayalam.
4. Engage in community-based organisations
As mentioned above, organisations like Vandrevala Foundation and MINDS Foundation use different education methods to incorporate psychology into their community and destigmatise mental illness in their native language.
Read More: Understanding the Rights of Persons with Mental Illness: A Guide to Dignity and Equality
5. Designing new digital tools with their regional language
Creating mental health chatbots and other apps for Indian adolescents should be offered to reduce the misunderstanding and respect the individual’s local language and modes of expression.
Read More: The Role of Chatbots in Mental Health Services: How Does It Impact People?
Conclusion
India is a multilingual country, which really demands the field of psychology and language. Mostly, the information is passed down to all in English and Hindi and not in other languages. A blend of language and psychology fosters cultural sensitivity and is effective in breaking down the barriers between clients toward therapists. As it helps the individual to freely express themselves, it gets their issues solved and relieved. Building more regional language capacity services in the clinical settings, research and community is essential for mental health for all.
FAQs
1. Why can’t Psychology just use only one language everywhere?
NO, we cannot; as India is a country of different languages spoken, Psychology cannot use a single language to communicate between the media and the people. Although Hindi is a dominant language in India, all other languages should be included and so it used to express their thoughts and feelings and get their issues resolved.
2. Is there any specific regional language tool available for mental health?
Yes, there are some NGO’s and institutions developed translated screening tools, pamphlets and newsletters and publications. Not only in Hindi, but also in other languages like Marathi, Malayalam and Telugu.
3. Does a lack of vocabulary in the native language affect mental health awareness among people?
In local languages, terms like PTSD, anxiety, and other disorders have not been mentioned, and it is missing in their vocabulary. This makes people have a better understanding of the symptoms and causes of it. Providing a translated version of these disorders in their native language can help individuals gain greater knowledge and awareness.
4. Is speaking bilingual helpful or does it confuse in therapy?
Yes, speaking in bilingual is helpful, when the individual doesn’t have a proper understanding of one’s language, another language can be used in assessing and evaluating. For instance, a therapist can speak in both English and Tamil to address the patient and educate.
5. What do psychology students do to help build language diversity?
Students can translate questionnaires, screening tools, or adapt materials in the mother tongue and volunteering in local NGO’s and promoting the regional language publication and research can help in building language diversity.
References +
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Wikipedia contributors. (2024, November 5). People’s Linguistic Survey of India. Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Linguistic_Survey_of_India?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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Soni, A. (2025, May 8). Language Barriers to Communication: Examples & How to Overcome Them. Clearinfo. https://clearinfo.in/blog/language-barriers-to-communication/
Annan, F., & Archibong, B. (2023). The value of communication for mental health. https://doi.org/10.3386/w31638
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