Introduction
The problem of mental health is increasing in Nepal. The latest available evidences show that there is a rise in mental health problems. Nepal has formulated various plans and policies to address the problems and to quantify the magnitude of common mental disorders, National Mental Health Survey Nepal, 2020 was carried out.


Purpose
To assess the problem of mental health and care seeking behavior for mental health in Nepal based on Nepal mental health survey.



Method
Desk review was conducted. Various reports, policy documents and guidelines were reviewed and descriptive analysis was conducted.


Results
Nepal mental health survey comprised of 15,088 samples of which 9,200 were adults aged 18 years and above and 5,888 were adolescents aged 13-17 years. Among adults, 10% had any mental disorder in their lifetime and 4.3% currently had any mental disorder. The prevalence of lifetime and current mood disorder among adults was 3% and 1.4% respectively, while 3% currently had neurotic and stress related disorder. The prevalence of suicidality was 7.2%. About 40% adults had talked about their symptoms to someone, 23% had sought treatment for their symptoms which included 8.8% non-specialist doctors, 6.7% faith healers and 6.5% psychiatrists.


Conclusions
There is a need to integrate mental health agenda in all plans, policies and programs related to health, social welfare, education and employment. Mental health should be integrated into general health care system to increase the accessibility and availability of basic mental health services.