It was a chance meeting with Dr Ashish
Tavkarr {Top Psychotherapist specializing in critical cases} at CCD Bhandarkar
Road Pune that set off this train of thoughts; a look at the rising issues
relating to the mind in Indian Society. This is not limited to Psychology, a
hobby of mine – but extends to stress, lifestyle and mental issues. This chance
meeting naturally veered to aspects to Psychological ailments that we Indians
tend to suffer from.
My questions to him were quite
straightforward, though slightly off-the-beaten-track. My observations were on
the line of the surprising rising trend of psychological issues in Indian
Society, and the inability of the Indian Family unit to deal with these. As a
matter of fact, my observation at the close of our chat was rather blunt :
Psychotherapy is a rich-man’s illness, due to a variety of reasons. The key aspect here is psychological
ailments have no biological reasons by-and-large in terms of vectors of the
disease; and yet they are rising. Thus, there has to be a set of reasons that emanate
from our lifestyle, our society, our family unit and our overall approach.
I approached him with two questions, or rather
observations. One, Indian Families do not understand, appreciate, accept and realize
Psychological aspects of sickness – and not just in the terms of shame to
family name. The problem is much deeper. Second, my observation was any
psychological issue has one similarity with other diseases – the earlier you
identify them, the easier it is to deal with it. And early identification is
hard due to simple lack of awareness at the ground level, as people cannot
identify the symptoms of the disease. The second aspect is not something I am
qualified to deal with; but the first is something that you and I can do
something about!
RISING INCIDENCE
While there is decidedly a genetic
component to this issue of rising incidence, this I shall not touch; my blog is
not the place for it. My main concern in my writings in the Individual, The
Family and The Society, in all their manifestations. Accordingly, The Indian
Family and the Indian People by and large suffer from an inability to
understand what entails a true symptom of a psychological problem. That is why
we wrongly call people names for perfectly normal behaviour, and incorrectly
ignore truant behaviour that is actually a signal of a deeper problem. This is
independent of level of education, sadly. In fact, rising incidence is partly due
to rising stress, materialism, racing with the rest of the world, the pressure
to conform, and a rising distance between values & actions among other reasons.
For example – shyness is not a problem,
either in society, or in individual relationships, or in life. But, mishandling
a shy person in formative stages can lead to serious problems later on in life.
This is a general problem I have observed many times, as people just cannot
accept their children being different from them. Thus, instead of allowing
children the independence to develop, they are often forced to conform; leading
to other problems in later stages of life. Most
tragically, this habit – forcing our children to conform - leads to many
genuine talents being destroyed, and realizing only a part of their true
potential. Please realize that each human is a masterpiece, a creation of true
wonder – given the chance to develop without your pressure!
This isn’t limited to Shyness; be it
Bipolarity, Anxiety, OCD, Depression – each has its early indicators and
symptoms; it is our ignorance that leads to us ignoring them. This is complicated
by the factors above- societal norms,
impressions, pressures, and other factors. We routinely ignore the real problem
signs, and target perfectly normal behaviour, naming it as deviant. We just fail to grant the
individual in our lives as an individual, and refuse to accept any person who
is different. This puts pressure on the individual to conform and get in line,
so to speak.
This is further complicated by overt
pressure by family and friends, as well as taunting and teasing, further
creating a complex situation. While it doesn’t
land up as a psychological problem most times – it is beyond argument that this
behaviour of ours destroys innate talent, and we end up creating automatons who
conform rather than diversify and flower into the wonders they are fully
capable of becoming. This destroys potential, productivity and kills ideas
before they are born. Worst of all, it prevents God’s Creations from becoming
the true wonders they are.
CONCLUSION
There are other vital aspects –
competition, the rat race, the pressure for performance and marks. These
aspects are a function of our structural issues Education as well as Health,
and thus are beyond the pale of this article. My concern is the society and the
family. The problem I have stated above is endemic in nature in our society. Why must we force people to conform to a
certain type? Why cant we accept each individual as unique, a true wonder of
God? Doesn’t being human give us intellect and the ability to choose for
ourselves basis our own capabilities? Why be something we are not? Animals do
not have this ability to choose, or the intellect and skills to create. If we
depress individuality, aren’t we calling into question the very basis of our
humanity? This is a question that all of you have to answer for yourselves…
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