Dr Divya Parashar Head of Rehabilitation Psychology at Indian Spinal Injuries Centre narrates what helped one of her patients, who was paralyzed waist down, come out of his self-imposed exile at home to face the world in a wheelchair.
“I don’t want to be seen in a wheelchair, and you can do nothing about it,” said a very determined Deepak (name changed to protect privacy), sitting in my office. A fever had rendered him paralyzed from waist down three years ago.
Every morning, he would…
Depression
Yuna Angell, who has schizophrenia, advocates it is important to be empathic and sensitive to people living with mental illness and advises how best to communicate with them. Although I have schizophrenia and depression, it still does make me feel awkward when people tell me they have mental illness. I’m at a loss as to what to respond afterwards sometimes. For me, I’ll just say, “Me too. I have schizophrenia and depression. How are you coping with your medication or counselling sessions?” I…
Teen mental health has been deteriorating over the last five years. Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University sheds light on studies teen suicide, depression. Around 2012, something started going wrong in the lives of teens. In just the five years between 2010 and 2015, the number of U.S. teens who felt useless and joyless – classic symptoms of depression – surged 33 percent in large national surveys. Teen suicide attempts increased 23 percent. Even more…
Shivani Maheshwari brings you a list of 10 movies and documentaries on health released in 2017. It is a random selection, with no preference or bias. They were picked up because they featured prominently on social media. The dominance of American staple probably makes a telling statement that more work needs to be done in the health sector in India, in terms of films, features, docudramas, narratives, and motion pictures. Hopefully, 2018 will be better. Watch them if you can. Many are available…
A film festival dedicated exclusively to mental health, particularly depression, is on this weekend in Pune with screenings of several award winning films. We speak to Anushri Thakar, Clinical Psychologist & Co- founder, TRIMITI Trust, who curated the Mental Health Film Festival (MHFF) to create awareness and build an inclusive society. MindScope, a festival of films focusing on mental health, seems unique. What was the inspiration behind it? Creating awareness on mental health is one of…
An estimated 2 lakh Indians take their life every year and not less than 25 times of this number attempt suicide. Akhileshwar Sahay, bipolar survivor and mental health leader, has embarked on an ambitious initiative, Zero Suicide Mission, to eliminate suicides from India. In this interview, he charts out the roadmap for his mission. What is Zero Suicide Mission? Zero Suicide Mission seeks to eliminate suicides and suicide attempts from India. It seeks to overturn the status…
Sweta Tiwary is a Volunteer, Mentor and Trainer at Connecting NGO, a Pune-based organisation working for the cause of Suicide Prevention. She shares with us various facets of a person in distress and how friends and family can support him/her. Sweta, you are at the end of a toll free line – how many calls do you get daily on an average? What is the objective of a Helpline? The Helpline numbers (9922004305* and 9922001122) are operational from 12noon* to 8 pm everyday. During these 6 hours, we…
Dr Avinash Joshi, a psychiatrist, has set up a marriage bureau for people with psychiatric and physical disabilities in the hope of providing them not just a soul mate, but also helping build a relationship on trust . You have started a marriage bureau for people with psychiatric and physical disabilities, the first of its kind in India. What spurred you to set up this unique initiative? I have set up a matchmaking site called, manomarriage.com for people with psychiatric and physical…
12% of people with diabetes have major depression, and about 10 to 20% have minor depression. In a new analysis, German researchers have found that reducing depressive symptoms does indeed help control blood glucose better and even increasing the probability of bringing HbA1C under to under 7.5. According to study investigator Andreas Schmitt, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Institute of the Diabetes Academy Mergentheim in Germany, it could be that the less depressed people are,…
