mental health

Divya (name changed) was a successful 40-year-old HR professional from Bengaluru till such time as she lost her mother to a heart attack, suddenly, a few years ago. She herself was hospitalised a couple of weeks later, reason unknown. It was left to a psychiatrist to identify that she was suffering from depression. She was advised medication and grief counselling which she continues to this day. 'Accepting that I had depression was not easy. Anxiety attacks compounded the problem. I went through denial before I could finally accept that what I dealing with was an ailment which needed attention -…

Mani C (name changed), a 16-year-old resident of Ambal Nagar, Chennai is irregular to school, but he regularly visits the TASMAC outlet on Jawaharlal Nehru Road as soon as the shutters are raised at 12 noon. His peers and acquaintances have dropped out of school, having taken to the liquor bottle even earlier. If his mother berates him for choosing the wrong path, he says, “I am just doing what Appa (father) does.” The mother runs out of words to convince him. Mani started revolting when he was 14. It was yet another day when his father had beaten him…

For many years now Sarvesh (name changed) has been living in a kind of emotional seesaw that makes him swing like a pendulum between deep depression and manic excitement. He is afflicted with Bipolar Affective Disorder (BPAD) and life has not been easy for him or his family members. The latter have however accepted his condition and are supportive. Stated in simple terms, BPAD is a psychiatric disorder that makes it very difficult for people to control their mood swings. Medication is an essential part of the treatment. How did it begin for Sarvesh? 13 years ago, as an alcoholic,…

On June 27, Bengaluru’s National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) formally launched its digital academy, virtually, with the government's participation. Along with NIMHANS director B.N Gangadhar, who was at the office of the Union Health Minister JP Nadda in New Delhi, 500 doctors from 15 states logged in. "It was a formal event. We announced the course, launched digital books and shared the link to the website. We also discussed the agenda, and the benefits of distance education in this sector," Gangadhar said. Mental illnesses present an ever-growing cause for concern across the world. Statistics that emerge from…

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines Health as "a state of complete physical, mental and emotional well being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity." And yet we often find ourselves paying heed only to one of these domains in isolation. Oft-neglected are the domains of mental and emotional well being or rather, the lack of it. As someone who is a fledgling in the study of Mental Health, I'd like to share my two cents on  Mental Health. The mental health pandemic Mental illnesses have been known to humanity since time immemorial. Even the ancient Indian scholars…