India faces acute shortage of registered clinical psychologists: study
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India’s mental health system is struggling with a severe shortage of registered and practising clinical psychologists, according to a recent study published in the Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology.
The findings come at a time when awareness around mental health is growing, and the government has announced initiatives such as setting up a second NIMHANS campus and upgrading mental health institutes in Ranchi and Tezpur.
The study draws attention to a gap between policy intent and workforce capacity.
Citing the National Mental Health Survey 2015–16, the researchers note that 10.6 percent of Indian adults are affected by mental disorders, with a lifetime prevalence of 13.7 percent. Against this backdrop, the availability of qualified professionals remains limited.
Researchers analysed data from the Central Rehabilitation Register, focusing on professionals listed as Clinical Psychologists and Rehabilitation Psychologists. The aim was to assess how registered professionals mapped onto recognised training programmes under the Rehabilitation Council of India and how many were actively practising.
The analysis found that 3,890 professionals were registered as Clinical Psychologists. Of these, only around 2,900 were marked as active, while 990 were listed as inactive. This means nearly one in four registered clinical psychologists was not practising at the time of assessment, further reducing access to care in a country with a large and growing mental health burden.
The study also flagged inconsistencies in documentation linking qualifications to registration categories, making workforce planning and quality assurance more difficult. It warned that institutional claims of counselling facilities and suicide prevention mechanisms risk being symbolic if they are not backed by licensed and verifiable professionals.
With recent Supreme Court guidelines emphasising student mental health and suicide prevention, the researchers stressed that counselling centres are only as effective as the professionals staffing them.
The study calls for expansion of training capacity, clearer standardisation of qualifications and registration, and measures to reduce avoidable professional inactivity to strengthen India’s mental health workforce.
