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Home 2015September

Month: September 2015

22Sep

Understanding the Mental Health Scenario of Delhi State

Delhi or Dilli as it is called fondly by its residents, is known to be the heart of the country. Delhi is a leader in the field of Healthcare service providers across the nation and is known to attract the residents not just from nearby states but from across the country and abroad as well. With a population of nearly 10 million which is rapidly increasing and expanding by the day, it may be estimated that one fourth of the residents are in need of mental health care and Psychiatric Services. As is evident from the large numbers, the mental health of our city needs to be dealt with utmost urgency and compassion. However being a large megalopolis, and one of the largest cities in the world the mental health needs of the State of Delhi are by itself unique and need to be understood well to be able to attend to it.

Let us begin this task by gathering the factors which place Delhi uniquely in perspective of its Mental Health needs-

  • Stress and the daily pressures of living in the mega polis of Delhi

  • Changing lifestyles, sedentary habits, and dietary changes.

  • Increasing lifestyle disorders like Diabetes, Hypertension, Thyroid disorders, Lipid abnormalities, Obesity etc. which are strongly linked to metal illness.

  • Rapid urbanization and associated adversities

  • Shrinking families and reduced social support leading to isolation

  • Impact of westernization and changing value systems

  • Pollution and detrimental effects of environmental toxins

  • Economic hardships and uncertainties.

  • Merging of different cultures, religions and ethnicities creating a humdrum of difficulties and conflicts.

In the metropolis of Delhi, there is a very high level of stress in everyone, be it a 8 year child, 15 year old adolescent, a struggling adult, lonely elderly or even a housewife, the tolls are insurmountable. Even if full fledged mental disorders are few, milder and non syndromal symptoms are significantly high and grossly disturbing. Some common examples of these are irritabiilty, restlessness, anxiety, low mood, disinterest, reduced concentration and lack of enjoyment. Frequent headaches and Easy tiredness can also be due to psychological reasons. Inspite of the all of the above, the mental health need issues of the residents of state of Delhi have not received due attention till date.

The first and foremost reason for this is the lack of awareness about mental health and significant downplaying of one’s mental health needs due to both ignorance and related stigma or better to say still – low acceptance of the same.

Another important factor is, the lack of knowledge about mental health resources available to the public in the wide and big city of Delhi.

Delhi caters to a very large and diverse population and accordingly has diverse means to provide mental health care to its residents. A no. of government hospitals like IHBAS in east Delhi, lady hardinge and Ram Manohar Lohia in central Delhi provide mental health care at minimal rates. Many hospitals like Sir Ganga Ram, BL Kapoor , Apollo Hospital provide such in the private sector. But considering the enormous population of Delhi, with its growing requirements daily, even these sometimes fall short. Herein comes the role of Private clinics, which provide wider reach, easy accessibility, higher acceptance and hence fill in the gaps of the mental health needs of Delhi.

Delhi Mind Clinic is one such attempt to provide easily available, conveniently accessible and quality mental health care to people in need. Our aim is to spread awareness & improve acceptance of one’s mental health needs, to use an eclectic blend of therapy and medication to optimize one’s strengths and improve the functionality by removing the distress.

Hopefully, with time, Delhi will be a more mentally healthy state.

22Sep

Stress management

Stress Management Delhi

In a metropolitan city like Delhi, it is a rule of thumb for an individual to feel stressed. The humdrum of the daily routine, fighting against the clock to be ahead of deadlines, the surrounding traffic, blaring of horns and even if not that, the rising swarm of people in the metro…to surpass that, we live in small houses, away from nature, eat unhealthy junk food and to exercise means only exercising our fingers on the keypads of our smart phones. And hence stress becomes the norm.

So how do we manage stress? Very simple things-

First, find time for yourself – relax, recreate, pause, enjoy.

Second, find time for your body to heal – healthy diet, daily exercise and a good night’s sleep.

Third, build and utilize your social support – relatives, friends, family – catch up, chat, laugh and smile.

Fourth – focus on the stressors – identify, change the stress or improve your ability to cope.

Fifth – counter the ill effects of stress- meditate, practice yoga, rejuvenate.

Last – spend time with nature and slow down.

22Sep

stigma-in-psychiatryThe oxford dictionary defines stigma as a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or person. It has been classified into two types – first, social stigma which is the society’s prejudicial attitude and discriminatory behavior towards persons with mental illness and secondly, perceived stigma which refers to the experiences of the mentally ill persons.

The reasons as to why mentally ill are stigmatized are not difficult to understand. It is often believed that mental illness results from a lack of strength or character, that somehow the mentally ill are themselves responsible for their fate. The mentally ill are considered to be dangerous, homicidal, less intelligent and not at par with their counterparts. The role of media in propagating these false beliefs can also not be left without a mention.

The ways in which stigma affects the mentally ill are also very important to be understood before we can talk about managing the same. Stigma impairs the help seeking of the mentally ill, further aggravating their illness besides the increased psychological stress they face which leads to reduced acceptance of the illness by patient and their family members. Even after recovery from their illness, stigma interferes with their occupational and social rehabilitation.

To reduce stigma against mental illness, we will first have to create awareness amongst the masses about these illnesses and remove the myths and negative stereotypes attached with the mental illness and mentally ill. This can be done by increasing our knowledge about mental illness, interacting with the ill without any prejudices and preconceived notions and providing them equal opportunities as far as possible.

22Sep

Internet Addiction Disorder

A nerd guy who is addicted to graphic computer software. Point of view behind the screen.
A nerd guy who is addicted to graphic computer software. Point of view behind the screen.

Technology has without a doubt made our lives easier and more comfortable, but somewhere in the mad race to keep abreast with the latest technology, inventions and gadgets, we have compromised on many other things such as personal intimacy in relationships, physical activity and efforts in daily tasks and social involvement in general. It is not uncommon these days to see individuals walking on the road with a mobile in their hands and typing while crossing the road. Be it young children using their parent’s phone to play on preschool apps or adolescents fighting with their parents for the latest smart phone in the market, we are all too familiar with such scenarios. We do realize the physical ill effects of such, but the adverse effect of internet on one’s mental health has yet to gain its due importance in our knowledge bank.

Excessive use of internet is known to cause attentional impairments, poor anger control, anxiety and depression. When children start using internet at early ages, there is a definite impairment in maintaining concentration and poor frustration tolerance. Adolescents these days interact more on the social media than in personal manner, this has been found to cause low confidence levels and hostility in relationships.

Despite the fact that, to view internet as an addiction seems too farfetched, in reality it is not so. It was firstly in the year 1996 that internet addiction was proposed to be a disorder by Kimberly Young PhD, and since then it has been an area of stringent research to the extent that its involvement in the classificatory systems of Psychiatry is being debated. It is said that individuals suffering from internet addiction disorder(IAD) have

  • Constant preoccupation with the internet,

  • use the internet for longer periods over time to achieve satisfaction,

  • made unsuccessful efforts to control or shut down internet use,

  • become restless, moody or irritable when attempting to cut down the use,

  • stayed online longer than intended to or necessary

  • have faced or risked the loss of a job, relationship, career or educational opportunity because of the internet use

  • lied to family about the extent of involvement with the internet.

Even though there has still not been an official recognition of the internet addiction as a psychiatric disorder, the field is widely expanding and more so in metropolis such as Delhi. What needs to be done is time limited and balanced use of the internet and not at the expense of our relations and routines.

21Sep

The World Mental Health Day is celebrated each year on the 10th of October. It was celebrated for the first time in the year 1992, after which it gradually was picked up by more and more countries. The aim of celebrating this day is to generate public awareness about mental illness, bring out various mental health worker’s efforts and to further plan and implement the basic needs of mental health. Each year, a theme is picked up and remains the focus for the entire year such as schizophrenia, depression, mental health and the elderly.

For the year 2015, the theme is “Dignity in mental health”. It is well known that the mentally ill, have to struggle amidst the stream of adversities posed by their own illness as well as the society’s inability to respond appropriately. In the medieval times, the persons with mental illness were considered to be”possessed”, “devious”or of immoral character. The treatment considered best was segregation, discrimination, humiliation and exorcism which in some instances involved killing the person with mental illness. Gradually, with the herculean efforts of Psychiatrists like Pinel and Bassaglia more humane methods of treatment and inclusive approach by the society began to take shape.

Unfortunately, even in today’s times, the mentally ill continue to be ostracized and stripped off their dignity day in and day out. Stigmatization, discrimination, lack of acceptance make the suffering worse for a person who is already suffering from a mental illness. With the the focus on Dignity in Mental Health, the aim will be to raise awareness and acceptance about individuals suffering from mental illness, to provide such persons easy access to mental health services sans any negative intonation of perceived and displayed stigma along with providing these individuals a life of confidence, competence, independence and dignity.

To facilitate this year’s theme “Dignity in Mental Health”, Delhi Mind Clinic is providing free mental health consultation for three days during the entire mental health week. the details for the same are:
8th Oct, Thurs: 10am -1pm
10th Oct, Sat: 10am-1pm
12 Oct, Mon: 10am – 1 pm.

Venue: Delhi Mind Clinic, Arcadi Super Speciality Centre,
J-354, New Rajinder Nagra, New Delhi