Mental Health and Wellbeing

The Mental Health Care Bill, 2013 passed by Rajya Sabha recently has triggered an avalanche of reactions and opinions. While some have hailed it as a ‘landmark’ Bill with many progressive clauses, others have lambasted it fiercely and dubbed it ‘Politics of Health’ that has nothing to do with care. We bring you four key perspectives of Government, Caregiver, Medical profession and Patient to help you deduce fair evaluation and assessment. 1) Government The Mental Health…

What are the signs and symptoms of Epilepsy? Temporary confusion Uncontrollable jerking movements of arms and legs (commonly referred to as seizures) Loss of consciousness Staring spell What are the complications of Epilepsy? Falling: which causes injury to your head or break a bone Drowning : if you have epilepsy you are 15 to 19 times more likely to drown while swimming or bathing than rest of the population Accidents : A seizure that causes either loss of awareness or control can be…

By Dr. Mangala of Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) When a mentally ill person requiring help and treatment is discriminated against and is made to feel like an outcaste exactly when he needs maximum support, it is not only harmful for the individual but for society at large. Any community or society which is not inclusive and gives credence to stigmas and myths can never prosper and even advanced treatment gets defeated in the process. Advances in scientific research have brought…

A person with any illness should be empowered to have a say in their treatment plans and choices. And mental health should not be any different. Dr. Ramesh Kumar of SCARF explains what a Psychiatry Advance Directive is and why it must be executed despite the concerns. Psychiatry advance directives (PADs) is a document which outlines the patients’ preference in his treatment. This is executed when the patient has capacity, so that these directions can guide his treatment at a later…

Yuna Angell has been to the depths with her schizophrenic attacks. She had to be a caregiver when she needed caregiving herself, and her mother, in despair, even wanted to give her up to the psychiatric ward of the hospital. She has come a long way since and is now a mental health advocate in her own right, besides being an author with certification degrees from Harvard in medieval history.  I moved past the “only O levels” high school qualification recently with the basic counselling…

Amrit Bakhshy recounts his brave though agonizing journey of caring for his daughter, Richa, who developed schizophrenia as a teen in school and his tireless effort to build better lives for people with this mental disorder. Panic and Bewilderment A long distance call in early 1991, in my office at the World Trade Centre, Mumbai changed our lives forever. The caller was the principal of a well-known girls’ school in Dehradun, where my daughter Richa was a boarder. Richa had a sort of…

Excerpts from the book Fallen, Standing, my life as a schizophrenist by Reshma Valliapan, Ashoka Fellow and artist-activist for the rights of persons with mental illness. Reshma was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 22. She is founder director of The Mind Arcs and The Red Door  The meds just suppress everything. It becomes a form of control. It took away my voice. Not only did it repress my so called symptoms, it repressed ME. The only person who could stand up for me…

iCall, a psychosocial helpline started by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, provides the crucial support to callers facing mental health problems. An interview with Paras Sharma, programme coordinator, iCall, who states that access to mental healthcare is pitiably scarce in India.   When and why did you feel the need to set up a Helpline? The need for setting up something like iCALL has always been there and even with iCALL around now, it is not like there is no need…

Forlorn and aching I write... Of a lost heart waiting to belong... Waiting to Belong I wake up thanking God for another day, Another day to look out at the dancing trees to the hum of the breeze, To raise my face to the warm kiss of the Sun, To share an unspelled love with the flowers the bees and my dog Another day to respect my temple I neglected for many years, Another day to tell the world , how beautiful is life, I knock at a door , see a frown and turn around, To knock at another door,…

Ujjwala Baxi shows the easy way to supplement proteins in a vegetarian or even a vegan diet The other day I had a mother sharing with me her daughter’s New Year’s resolution of switching to vegetarianism and also that she continues to feel strongly about it. The mother, of course, had mixed emotions about the decision. While she was happy about her daughter’s apparent sensitivity towards animals, she seemed also worried about her daughter’s abrupt decrease in protein intake…