Science of the mind.

The popular concept and practice of science as an exclusively objective exercise ignores the study of rich and unavoidable subjective phenomena relating to mind. This article proposes that as a process of generating knowledge from perceptual experiences, science-skill is innate to man, which demands precision and effective management of bias, and relies on faith for communication. It manifests in man along two dimensions, one of precision and the other of need and interest. Two more dimensions influence its practice and communicability. This dimensionality accommodates scientific study of diverse human experiences, including religion and spirituality. Evolution of scientific study of mind requires complementing the existing objective techniques with development of techniques for investigating subjective and intuitive experiences. It would also benefit by borrowing concepts and methodologies from ancient Indian philosophies and spiritual practices. Swami Vivekananda's observations are presented in this connection.

Relevance of ancient Indian wisdom to modern mental health - A few examples.

The ancient Indian concepts and paradigms relating to mental health are holistic and cover aspects that have been neglected by the modern mental health literature. The latter can borrow, study, and incorporate them in their text books to advantage. The current trend in mental health research is heavily biased in favour of biological aspects of psychological phenomena neglecting the basic entity, the mind. Correction of this partisan tilt is urgently needed.

Some professional experiences.

THIS NARRATIVE OF SOME OF MY PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES ATTEMPTS TO PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH I ARRIVED AT CERTAIN CONCLUSIONS LIKE: (a) Subjective personal experiences can be valid contributors to integration of a professional's world-view. (b) Concepts and constructs relating to diagnosis and other systems of understanding and practice are useful only as reference-systems. Rigidity in their use can be counter-productive. (c) Mental health profession is not always indispensable to patient's well being. Professional pride is an obstacle to learning. (d) Psychotherapy is not consciously done, but is a natural consequence of therapist's efforts to understand the patient and his/her predicament. Therapist's qualities play a predominant role. (e) Usefulness of therapeutic methods and techniques is dependent entirely on how the therapist uses them. (f) Absolute therapeutic effectiveness is a myth. (g) Indian mythology can offer a system of "Psycho-pathology," a system of explanation and management, parallel to existing systems.

Some personal reflections relating to psychotherapy.

This article briefly sketches five important beliefs that shaped the evolution of my professional assumptive-world in respect of psychotherapeutic practice. They are: (a) Every human has some knowledge of what we call psychology and sociology. A professional too has a share of this, which must be integrated with his or her professional knowledge. (b) Therapist's professional knowledge should ideally be practised in his or her personal life. (c) Ideal qualities, which promote mental health are similar to desirable therapist qualities. (d) Mental health is effective management of one's miseries and illnesses. (e) Coping skills are behavioural expressions of ideal values and attitudes.

Love, praxis, and desirable therapist qualities.

Until recently, both love and praxis as therapist qualities have not enjoyed the attention they deserve. The components of praxis and the derivatives of love (namely, empathy and good-will) are important ingredients of therapeutic behavior. They are also capable of promoting mental health. Inculcating the trainees with these qualities should become foci of training in psychotherapy.

Correlates of psychiatric morbidity in patients with leprosy.

The relationship between psychiatric morbidity in 30 leprosy patients under treatment as assessed by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and certain variables of their illness and psychosocial factors is examined in this paper. Physical disability and duration of illness were the illness variables considered; knowledge and adjustment were the psychosocial variables included. Bell's Adjustment Inventory (BAI) measured the latter, psychiatric morbidity was positively correlated with physical disability (p < 0.05), knowledge about the disease (p < 0.01) and social, emotional and health maladjustment (p < 0.01), but not with duration of illness (p > 0.05). The importance of appropriate knowledge, social stigma and physical disability in leprosy is discussed in addressing the psychiatric morbidity of leprosy patients.

Understanding empathy and related phenomena.

Over a period of time, the author arrived at a few tentative postulates concerning empathy and related processes based on some of his experiences and observations. The central theme of these postulates is, firstly, that interpersonal interaction is an interaction of the personal-space fields. Secondly, empathy, therapeutic benefit, and the professional stress are all related to the same process of interpersonal interaction. This interaction takes place as an enmeshment of personal spaces of the interacting individuals, and involves transfer of a wide range of information in the affective, cognitive, and other areas. This is because the personal spaces have fieldlike qualities analogous to what Kurt Lewin described. Thus, such phenomena as empathy, therapeutic benefit, professional stress are all consequences of the same process. It is possible to substantiate these postulates by diverse evidences in the published literature. The natural consequences of such an interpersonal interaction are empathic understanding, transfer of mood states (like hope, distress or expectancy), affective states (like anxiety, sadness, anger or hostility), ideas, images and even attitudes and values, etc. This phenomenon of transfer can explain such processes as therapeutic benefit in individual and group settings, professional stress, shared delusions, and even experimenter bias. Whether one becomes aware of such transferred information or not depends upon the intent and sensitivity of the participants.

Psychiatric morbidity in leprosy and psoriasis--a comparative study.

The psychiatric morbidity of 30 leprosy patients was compared with that of psoriasis in a clinic set-up. The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity was significantly less among leprosy patients (122/1000) than among those with psoriasis (476/1000); but the severity of the problem, as measured by General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), was significantly greater among leprosy patients (p < 0.05). There was no difference in the pattern of psychopathology diagnosis between the two groups. Depressive neurosis was the most common diagnosis in both the groups. The relevance of these findings in relation to leprosy is discussed.

Therapeutic wisdom in Indian mythology.

The usefulness of anecdotal analogies from Indian mythology in therapeutic work with rural mental health patients has been reported. The author encountered evidences for the same in his clinical work. He then undertook to collect from Indian mythological literature excerpts containing psychotherapeutic and related themes. Examples of a few of those themes are presented to stimulate the interest of therapists in the vast therapeutic potential in mythologies. The mental health profession would benefit from examining mythologies of other cultures, and experimenting in using them in therapy.

Psychotherapy programme for psychiatry residents at nimhans - 1. A descriptive account.

A formal, mandatory psychotherapy training programme for psychiatry residents at NIMHANS was started in 1983. It has made qualitatively encouraging progress. It has also focussed on issues demanding attention in the years to come. This paper is a descriptive account of the programme.