Mental Health and Wellbeing

Janet Wong (52) from Singapore has had to deal with Selective Mutism in her son from an early age, but she wishes she could have detected the symptoms earlier to make her son feel more at ease. The child in this case needs to be loved and cared for by the family at every stage, she feels. What is Selective Mutism?  Selective Mutism (SM) an extreme form of anxiety disorder in which a person who is normally capable of speech does not speak in specific situations or to some specific people.…

Shubhrata Prakash, an officer with the Indian Revenue Service currently on sabbatical in Bangkok, went through a very long episode of depression. At the end, she was inspired to write a book The D Word: A Survivor’s Guide to Depression that not only became therapeutic but grew into a handbook on depression. 1.    Would you consider depression a mental illness? Depression IS a mental illness, which also has physical dimensions. Unfortunately, most people who have not had a close…

Restoring self-esteem and self-worth is what Dance Movement Therapy by Renelle Snelleksz has successfully achieved for a cross section of people like people with Parkinson’s Disease or those with a history of physical abuse and even children who have survived cancer but are deeply scarred. What is Dance Movement Therapy? How is it different from learning Dance? Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is very different from technique-based dance in that it creates a safe and non-judgemental space for…

‘Mental Illness and Caregiving: Challenges, Concerns and Complications’ – authored by Schizophrenia Awareness Association’s president Mr Amrit Bakhshy, was launched to coincide with World Mental Health Day. This comprehensive book, the first of its kind in India, is written mainly for caregivers of persons with mental illness and provides valuable information. Here is an interview with the author and an extract from the book. What was the inspiration for your book? How was the idea born? I…

Being employed, besides serving monetary ends, is the best way for rehabilitation of people with mental illness, according to Atmanirbhar, an organisation which practices what it preaches. AtmaNirbhar is a registered non-profit trust based in Chennai that is engaged in finding solutions for employment for people with mental ill health. The stigma of having a mental illness is a massive barrier that an individual battling the illness has to confront every single day. If we add seeking and…

Moyna Sen writes on the National Conclave for Community Mental Health held in July organised by Anjali that touched myriad issues. A simple definition of Mental Health goes this way: ‘Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.’ The National…

World Suicide Prevention Week 2016 A suicide story has various dimensions: there are those who think of committing it all the time, there are those who have tried and survived, and then there are those who have gone ahead and taken their own lives, leaving behind a shattered family who have to look for ways to grapple with the situation. The following stories are vignettes showcasing some of these aspects. All names are changed to preserve identity. THE GIRL WHO IS PUSHED TO THE BRINK …

On  World Suicide Prevention Day, Paras Sharma, Programme Coordinator, iCALL Psychosocial Helpline, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) dispels some common misconceptions about suicide. 1.  People who talk about suicide don’t usually do it, they just want attention. Suicide is a call for help that went unanswered. It's a myth that those who wish to end their lives don't explicitly say so, and those who don't are the ones who talk. There is ample research to show that suicidal…

Five failed relationships and an elaborate suicide plan later, Thomas Heng finds out that life is worth living after all! Clinical Depression led him to almost jump off a building, further thoughts of which were thwarted by prolonged counselling sessions with a helpful psychiatrist By and large I see myself as a rather ordinary person, who happens to be approaching the fifth decade of his life. Yet 17 years ago, it could have all ended by personal choice. If you have ever been in an all-boy…

World Suicide Prevention Day 2016 Yuna Angell realises, after several attempts at suicide, that life is too sacred to be lost like this. She advises people with suicidal tendencies to reach out for help in times of desperation, because everyone matters in life. The two songs I love to listen to when I have suicidal thoughts are “If I Die Young” by The Band Perry and “Vincent (Starry Starry Night)” by Don McLean. I would read the lyrics online while I listened intently to the songs, encouraging…