Mental Health Week Activity, Johnson Thomas, AASRA

As part of the Mental Health Week Activity , AASRA volunteers distributed book marks and newsletters in order to create a general awareness about the need for sound mental health practices and immediate redressal of mental health ailments and issues relating to it. The event was organised by the volunteers at the Kala ghoda fair on 9th Oct.

World Mental Health Week 4 Oct to 10 Oct

World Mental Health Week Oct 4-10

Help celebrate World Mental Health Day & Mental Health Week

The theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day is: “Making Mental Health a Global Priority: Scaling Up Services Through Citizen Advocacy and Action”.
The day will highlight different levels of advocacy and the need for enhancing services so that all people can have equal access to information, personalised treatment and resources to assist them in all aspects of their recovery.
NGOs as well as mental health and welfare service providers are expected to celebrate the week to help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness in all communities.
AASRA will be conducting an awareness drive , public exhibition for the purpose of increasing the awareness of mental health related issues.

Depression
Life is full of emotional ups and downs. But when the "down" times are long lasting or interfere with ability to function, one may be suffering from a common, serious illness-depression. Clinical depression affects mood, mind, body, and behavior. Most people do not seek help when they need it. AASRA advocates that people undergoing depression must seek help at the earliest through helplines and professional units.

four things!!

Life can be difficult. Relationships are often difficult. However, after 20 years’ experience with patients and families facing profound challenges, Dr. Ira Byock has seen that four simple phrases can help us through the unpredictability of daily life.
"Please forgive me" "I forgive you," "Thank you," and "I love you."

An excerpt from the book The Four Things That Matter Most A Book About Living by Ira Byock, M.D.

Restoring Closeness
The Four Things are powerful tools for reconciling the rifts that divide us and restoring the closeness we innately desire. When bad feelings occur in our close relationships, we tend to put off the work required to make things right. We always assume we’ll have another chance…later. That’s understandable, but it’s a mistake. Feeling resentful toward the people we love, or once loved, feeling distant from them, erodes our own happiness.
A brush with death often instills in us a newfound appreciation for the gift of life. Simple pleasures – a cup of tea, sunshine on one’s face, the voices of our children – feel like miracles. When we’ve had a close call that shakes us up, the anger we’ve felt toward people closest to us no longer seems significant. Ill will dissolves in love, appreciation, and affection, and we recognize the urgency of mending, tending, and celebrating our relationships.
Because accidents and sudden illness do happen, it is never too soon to express forgiveness, to say thank you and I love you to the people who have been an integral or intimate part of our lives, and say good-bye as a blessing. These simple words hold essential wisdom for transforming that which matters most in our lives – our relationships with the people we love.

Mental Health Issues discussed via email by Capt johann and Dr Achal Bhagat

From: captainjohann
Subject: Re: National trust/inclusion of mental illness and other issues


Dear Dr.Achal Bhagat,
Which of the following allegations according to you are defamatory Sir?
1.You have accepted you are a psychiatrist
2.You have not denied that you filed a case in supreme court for"modified ECT" or is it called impleading in the Erawady case in which 25 mentallyill were burnt alive on behalf of SAARTAk.
3.I do know you were working for Apollo at that time .
4.government psychiatrists supporting normal ECT and private psychiatrists supporting modified ECT is old hat.
I want to be told which is a lie?
Now that you have accepted the main issue of RIGHTS OF MENTALLYILL and also as you work for human rights issues i like to know the following
1.Blind or partially blind DISABLED are NOT represented by Ophthalmologists but by disabled or their carers.
2.Hearing disabled are represented by the persons who are disabled or their carers but NOT by ENT specialists
3.Physically disabled are represented by very articulate Physically disabled like Mr.mahesh or Dr.javed Abidi but NOT BY Orthopedists
4.disabled due to Mental retardation are represented by eminent and knowledgeable people like Mr.Kadkari,Mr. Mehta of PARIWAR or by Dr.HT Dholakia of AWMH again all carers.
5.I have no connection with Leprosy cured whether they are represented by themselves or by skin specialists.
My question to you as a Psychiatrist who fights for RIGHTS FOR MENTALLYILL why is it Mentallyill cured or their carers are NOT REPRESENTED in the august portals of government as you have been doing who is a Psychiatrist? Did not you find a single CURED MENTALLY ILL PERSON who is capable of representing the mentally ill disabled like Ms.Akila maheshwari( a recovered schizophrenic) ,ProfAnil vartak,Dr.lalitha Sehgal,Dr.Krishna Khurana ,Rukmini Pillai,Nirmala srinivasan,Rathna chibber all cares who could have represented our INTERESTS better especially on "narrow issues"

Dear sir you call the inclusion of mental illness in national trust act as "narrow issue".
For me as a carer it is a Major issue sir. the following are some of the other "narrow issues' in which we as carers are trying to bring implementation or awareness in government Bureaucracy.
1.Inclusion of mental illness in national trust act 1999
2.Inclusion of a recovered mentally ill person or a carer in the CCC ,CEC,SCC,SEC as established in PWDEA act 1995.)Politicians ,bureaucrats who never attend are normally the members. Out of 39 only 5 out of 7 disabilities are represented. .
3 All the other disabilities have special Institutions under the aegis of Rehabilitation council of India to cater to physically disabled and mentally retarded but not Psycho social disabled.Infact psychosocial disabled was not even included in the disablities list of Rehabilitation council act of 1992.With lot of emails,letters to editors, they included it only in 2005, i think and started visiting Richmond college of Psycho social rehabilitation, a private institution started by a psychiatric nurse from UK with her own savings.
4.UNCRPD is a red herring for me.The National trust act and DISABILITY COMMISSION with worthy ideas was started by the previous NDA regime due to some Minister's ward having mental retardation. In fact i was having a SADISTIC WISH THAT at least one amongst the worthy parliamentarians or Ministers have a ward with psychosocial disability( I admit i am guilty of inhuman thoughts as i am a human).Now the UPA regime within a month of coming to power disbanded the commission instead of putting its own nominees. They realy worked fast REAL FAST ON THAT.
5.What you have done for NSSO(national sample survey) seperate survey for all the seven Disabilities (at present we are clubbed with MR)because government works on Statistics.
I do not want to burden you with Health Ministry issues which we cares are considering as More Important but you may consider small.
6.Budget for mentally ill disabled is measly 75 lakhs out of 1087 crores for all disabilities. any effort to increase it sir?
7.What is your view on wandering mentallyill. Why not Banyan type organisation in every state of India

HEALTH MINISTRY ISSUES
1.clinical Trial of Psychiatric medications and how the psychiatrists conducting must not be posted to WHO, geneva
2.A senior Drug company said it considers Psychiatrists as consumers and not the ill who pop the pills nor the carers who pay for them. What is your take on this?
3.Health Budget increased from 19 crores to 198 crores (now 450 crores)due to Erawady tragedy or whose effort?
4.counterfeit Psyhiatric medications being made in Bareilly,Noida, ambala, etc etc and being supplied through CGHS/ESIC. what is your role in preventing this?
5.CGHS puts a cap of 3 years for inpatient treatment or go to Ranchi for permanent care. Your view?
6.Involuntary and voluntary admission
7.No psychiatrist does house call. Your view?
8.Suicides and suicide attempts are hushed up in government hospitals due to present rules. Your view?
9.we have only 3000 psychiatrists for a nation of 1 billion. Your view
10.NIMHANS TYPE of organization for every state as ordained by supreme court Interim order on Erawady in 2002. Why still no action? who is sabotaging in the health Ministry inspite of increased budget which is being surrendered?
11.Black box warnings in drug inserts and how they donot match in Indian drugs. Indian health Ministry doesnot enforce it as in USA> Your view?
12.354 WHO essential drug list doesnot contain respirodone and clozapine. Your view?

PETROLEUM MINISTRY
1.Drug Pricing and control order is being sabotaged by Drug Multi nationals like JJ,Pfizer,etc etc Your view?
2.Ever greening and Generic drugs. Your view?
With kind regards.
Dear Bhargavi,
Please make me answerable to my mails only. I have not abused colGoel nor amitha dhanda. I am defenitely pained by the attitude of Poonam natarajan.
"Greatness lies not in never falling but in rising everytime we fall"
Captain Johann samuhanand, BANGALORE INDIA
91 80 42023252
www.captainjohann. blogspot. com



--- On Fri, 8/8/08, Achal Bhagat wrote:

From: Achal Bhagat
Subject: Re: National trust/inclusion of mental illness and other issues

Date: Friday, 8 August, 2008, 12:11 AM

Dear All
First just to put the record straight.
I am a psychiatrist who has not 'certified' anyone till now. Believe it or not, I also have the audacity of seeing myself as a human rights activist, inspite of being a mental health professional! Was it Amartya Sen who said people have multiple identities or was it said by Tweedledum (or Tweedledee)? I did not think I was worth a gossip but it seems I am. So having been put in the dock by Captain Johann I am amused at such attention. I plead not guilty sir, I have not administered ECT for past seventeen years.

Making allegations about people and their intentions without actually even having met them is not very helpful and in fact defamatory. But we (those fighting for the rights of people with mental illness) are too few and we cannot afford to lose energy through such debates about people's intentions. So I will let it pass, Captain Johann. I coninue to respect you for what you are doing for the cause of people with mental illness. Now to the issue on hand.
I haven't followed all the communication that has been floating on this e-mail list but I believe it is about inclusion of mental illness under the National Trust and proposed National Trust Act Ammendments

Ok. First, the narrow issue of whether mental illness should be included under the National Trust Act. I think there is no debate on that in my mind. If the disability laws are discriminatory towards one group of disabled how can we expect rights of all people with disability to be addressed. National trust Act as it stands today is discriminatory. So NTA needs to change in its entire objective not just add a disablity or two.

The issue at hand is bigger, it is how in the light of UNCRPD do we fight for a review of laws, programs and policies in our country so that rights of people with mental illness are not infringed any further? I believe we need to oppose ammendments which are being pushed through with little or no consultation. We need to oppose both the process and content of the ammendments in NTA and the PWD Act unless a wider debate is possible and the alignment of the laws to UNCRPD is in letter and spirit. The present ammendment process has not really been a review of all laws according to the principles of UNCRPD. By ratifying the UNCRPD we have as a country automatically committed ourselves to a much more significant change than is being proposed at the moment.

The more significant change may mean a single comprehensive disability law which encompasses the civil, political socio economic rights of all people with disability. It also implies a new National Policy on Disability. It also implies that every state in India should also have a policy on Disability. It also implies that mechanisms for inclusive planning and monitoring in health, labour, education, women and child and twenty one other ministries are defined so that people with mental illness are not made to run between various ministries. It also means questioing the need for institutions like RCI and National Trust as there is a cost attached to running such institutions. The cost is not just a financial cost but such institutions lead to invisibilisation of people with disability from other mainstream planning and delivery processes. It also implies debating the issue of gaurdianship and substituted decision making.

These are significant debates. These cannot brushed aside in a rush to propose just any ammendments. Any process of hurrying the ammendments through is a betrayal of the spirit of the UNCRPD. The next ammendment process is not likely to happen for a decade. Let us not kid ourselves into believing that we have got it right in such a short time.

I do not think calling a meeting of a few professionals (even if such a meeting includes me) or some caregivers or having four zonal meetings amounts to a consultative process as envisaged in the UNCRPD. We need to come together, get organised and challenge the process and the hurry. It is a difficult fight. We, in the mental health sector are not organized as a group. The government and its organizations still want to push through the ammendments which have not been thought through. My colleagues, who are mental health professionals want to protect the existing heirarchy and at present not really clued in on the impact of UNCRPD. I can only plead with people who represent the cause of disabilities other than mental illness that while trying to protect your own rights please also ensure that no one discriminates against people with mental illness.

I am suggesting that we do participate in great numbers in all consultations and raise questions about the process and content. It is not just about including mental illness as one of the criterion for availing the benefits under the Act, it is about recognizing people with mental illness as people with equal capacity and equal entitlements. If one focusses on rights, inclusive planning and a society for all then National Trust provisions are actually provisions which belong to a past era. Most provisions have the assumtion of incapacity. This assumption of incapacity is evident in the day to day functioning of the trust e.g. A marketing agency set up by National Trust after the convention was ratified still had 'unsound mind' as a clause for excluding people to be on its board. It is this assumption of incapacity that needs to be challenged in the law and in our everyday lives.

I read a story today as narrated by Fali Nariman. He wrote that bees have survived because each bee which is squashed by a human hand, stings the hand. It may still get squashed but the fact that it did sting made the other bees survive. Come let us do some Gandhigiri, let us ask some stinging questions not just distribute roses.

Starting next week we at Saarthak are starting a blog on implementation of UNCRPD for people with mental illness. We are also in the process of writing to all parliamentarians to ensure that they raise questions if some "reheated" ammendments do reach the parliament.

Dr. Achal Bhagat
Director, Saarthak

--- On Thu, 7/8/08, captainjohann wrote:


Date: Thursday, 7 August, 2008, 5:05 PM

Dear Bhargavi,
First of all i want to acknowledge and thank you for providing this info about NATIONAL TRUST ACT.
But I am definitely pained by the ATTITUDE OF MS.POONAM NATARAJAN. I have started this fight for inclusion of Mental illness (disabled ) long back and I am dissappointed to be ignored.
I am forwarding my letter to Ms.Poonam natarajan and others on this issue.Mr.kanjilal, another carer has been continuously writing to Mr.Ashish kumar and poonam natarajan by registed post many times. I am forwarding my earlier letters to poonam natarajan,others which includes your co/trustee Ms.Amitha dhanda on this issue.If you go through this carefully you will understand the concerns of the carers.
When Ms.Ruma Bhagat a lawyer(disabled herself) who is also member of the National trust visited bangalore, she emphatically told that it is impossible for other disabilities to be included in national trust. But when i pointed out the affidavit which the Under secreatry Mr.mahendra Sharma in the Ministry of Social justice has filed in supreme court of India in Writ petition(civil) no 301 of 2005, she kept her own council.This affidavit gets confirmed vide letter no F.NO.2/17/99- BOA-VOL-II of Deptt of economic affairs(banking division) issued by Ministry of finance to Indian banks association. Both these letters were given by me notonly to you BUT ALSO TO MS.POONAM NATARAJAN who came to know about the scheme of Integrated development of Persons with disabilities( IDPD) only then.
I am suprised to see a psychiatrist Mr. Achal Bhagat( who was filed case in supremecourt for sake of Modified ECT so that apollo hospital in Delhi will get business which had that equipment at that time) was conducting the NTA at Delhi but not representative of psychosocial disabled or carer's representative. A PSYCHIATRIST' S ROLE IS ONE OF CERTIFICATION AND HE HAS NO ROLE IN DISABLITY SECTOR as is the case with other SIX disabilities who are always represented by THEMSELVES OR by THEIR CARERS.
In my opinion this National level consultation is a ruse by the ministry to get over the presure for inclusion of disabled due to mental illness in national trust act by making all disabilities part of national trust act who DO NOT REQUIRE GUARDIANSHIP. How can a cerebral palsy,autistic child,Alzheimer, disabled due to paranoid schizophrenia live without guardians.I only hope i am wrong.We the carers or psycho social disabled (with rights given by UN convention) only want the "Niramaya" insurance scheme,"Udhayam Pracha,Gyan Prabha,Arunim schemes etc benefits in the existing scheme of things.

with kind regards

"Greatness lies not in never falling but in rising every time we fall"
Captain Johann samuhanand, BANGALORE INDIA

www.captainjohann. blogspot. com



--- On Mon, 4/8/08, V Bhargavi wrote:


Dear Capt. Johann

I was really saddened and disappointed to see your and Akila's emails
on the NTA. With all expectations of proactive and collective
response, I had personally forwarded news about the
NTA


meetings
to
absolutely everyone on the Bapu networks. I am sorry that this has
been used destructively only to do more mud slinging at each other,
and setting up destructive communications, when what is needed is
love, co-operation and alliance building.

A more mature response would have involved engaging with the NTA on
inclusion, and writing to Ms Poonam directly. The fact that we are not
able to take such constructive, positive steps is probably the reason
why we are all still stuck in the mental illness sytem, and not the
mental health system.

Let us create a mental


health
system by first looking at how we write
and communicate with each other, and creating ways of working
together. There are enough road blocks already.

The NTA has put up their entire program on the website. Everything,
including the telephone contacts of the senior most people, is also
loaded on the web.
Several
more

consultations are
also planned. Let us
use this amply available information and create proactive strategies
instead of wasting our energies finding suitable abuses for each
other.

Good wishes,

and may love and peace prevail in the mental health sector,

Hope to see some of you at the NTA meetings,

Bhargavi Davar
www.camhindia. org


--
Mental health is about Love. There is no room for Force in it.

suicide is not chosen.......

“Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain"

That’s all it’s about. You are not a bad person, or crazy, or weak, or flawed, because you feel suicidal. It doesn’t even mean that you really want to die - it only means that you have more pain than you can cope with right now. Willpower has nothing to do with it. Of course you would cheer yourself up, if you could.

Don’t accept it if someone tells you, “that’s not enough to be suicidal about.” There are many kinds of pain that may lead to suicide. Whether or not the pain is bearable may differ from person to person. What might be bearable to someone else, may not be bearable to you. The point at which the pain becomes unbearable depends on what kinds of coping resources you have. Individuals vary greatly in their capacity to withstand pain.

When pain exceeds pain-coping resources, suicidal feelings are the result. Suicide is neither wrong nor right; it is not a defect of character; it is morally neutral. It is simply an imbalance of pain versus coping resources.

You can survive suicidal feelings if you do either of two things: (1) find a way to reduce your pain, or (2) find a way to increase your coping resources.

Both are possible!!!!!!!!!!!

Chad Vara with the original helpline

Chad Varah said people must never be alone again and that people must always have someone to talk to in their darkest hour.

Chad Varah is considered a pioneer of talking therapies. Despite having no formal psychiatric qualifications, he initiated this form of support, based on his wider experience in the church, and through establishing the Samaritans service.

He found that if a distressed individual could be given time and be listened to, without judgement, they could start to find a way through even the most difficult feelings.Suicide was illegal in 1950s Britain, making the discussion of related thoughts and fears incredibly difficult for individuals.

Chad Varah’s ground-breaking approach to resolving this contributed immeasurably to fundamental changes in the law and attitudes towards this difficult subject.

Moreover, Chad’s role in creating an international network of charities to help people in emotional distress and at risk of suicide worldwide, means that it is no exaggeration to say that global society owes him its collective thanks.

Article in The Telegraph on Debt Suicides

The Telegraph, Calcutta
Debt deaths stalk cities too
Debt doesn’t drive just poor farmers to commit suicide — financial woes are fast becoming a major cause of suicide in urban India as well, Varuna Verma notes
Illustration: Suman choudhury, Imaging: M Iqbal Shaikh

Inspector Umesh Shet still recalls the horror on 14-year-old Shivamshu’s face as he watched his father, mother and sister being wheeled into Mangalore’s Wenlock Hospital on stretchers. “The boy was sobbing. He kept saying that he had betrayed his father,” recalls Shet, an official at the Mangalore North police station. Shivamshu’s father, Vijay Singh, had asked his son to swallow cyanide and kill himself.

A Bangalore-based scientist, Singh had run into a loss of Rs 47 lakh when a client in Delhi purchased medical equipment from him and did not pay up. “In his statement to the police, Shivamshu revealed that his father’s creditors had been harassing the family for the last six months,” says Shet.

Feeling cornered, Singh brought his family to Mangalore last month, purchased cyanide and chloroform and checked into a hotel. That evening, he told his family it was time to end it all. Singh, his wife Sumati and daughter Shruti gulped the cyanide and went to bed.

“Shivamshu, however, found the poison’s odour oppressive and opted out of the suicide pact,” says Shet. He spent the night watching his mother and sister writhe in pain and finally informed the hotel receptionist. Singh was declared dead on arrival at Wenlock Hospital. The other two have recovered.

Debt doesn’t drive just poor farmers to take their lives in India. Suicide prevention centres are finding that financial woes are fast becoming a major cause of suicide in urban India as well. An on-going study conducted by the Prerana Charitable Trust, a Mumbai-based non governmental organisation (NGO), has found that economic troubles are the second most common cause of suicide in the city. The study claims that while 21.2 per cent of people killed themselves because of illness last year, 8.9 per cent did so for money reasons and 5.7 per cent owing to relationship problems.

Amresh Shrivastava, executive director, Prerana, says debt suicides are a symptom of a developing society. “Social security is poor in developing countries. So a culture of mortgage, debt, borrowing and unemployment becomes a major reason for suicide,” says Shrivastava. Suicide statistics in the US and Canada show that financial problems are the eighth most common cause of suicide.

Tanushree Bose — a resident of Calcutta’s Swarnika apartments — thought gory family suicides happened only in the movies, till her “very normal, respectable and quiet” neighbours, Dipankar and Shubra Samaddar, were found hanging from ceiling fans one morning last month. Their 11-year-old son, Rohan, was lying dead on the bed, his mouth covered with froth and blood.

The police found that Dipankar had suffered huge losses in his construction business and had run up debts of over Rs 70 lakh.

It is not only businessmen who find themselves in impossible debt traps and enter into suicide pacts with their families. In February this year, Veerendra Kumar, deputy general manager, Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL), Bangalore, and his wife, Usha, committed suicide because they couldn’t repay a loan of Rs 50 lakh. They left home one night, telling their daughter that they were going socialising. The next morning, the police found the couple dead on the rear seat of their car.

In urban India, debt suicides are usually a family affair. On the other hand, when farmers commit suicide, they do it alone. “An indebted farmer’s suicide results in government intervention. His loan is often waived. This is one factor that makes him take his life,” explains Rajasekharan Nair, secretary, Thrani, a Thiruvananthapuram-based suicide counselling centre.

These rules don’t apply to urban citizens. A debt-ridden businessman, for instance, knows his family will have to bear the burden of his unpaid loan. “To save his family from harassment, he takes everybody’s lives,” adds Nair.

A bank officer from Calicut, Venkat Mathew, had approached Thrani, complaining of severe depression. Mathew had taken a loan of Rs 8 lakh to start a business, which flopped. To repay the loan, he did some manipulation of the bank’s deposits, got caught and was suspended. “When the moneylenders started demanding money, Mathew and his wife felt cornered and went into depression,” says Nair. Two months ago, despite counselling, the couple killed their two children and then consumed poison themselves.

Aasra, a Mumbai-based suicide prevention NGO, claims to have recorded a 30 per cent increase in 10 years in the number of people who call because they are in a monetary mess and are contemplating suicide. Most of these people are young, ambitious, high spending and impatient to get rich, says Johnson Thomas, director, Aasra. “As the avenues for spending increase, most young Indians have started living beyond their means. This leads to debt, depression and suicide,” says Thomas.

Ajay Malhotra, spokesperson, Sumaitri, a Delhi-based suicide helpline, says that 15 per cent of the total suicide calls that Sumaitri receives are related to money troubles. Five years ago, such calls numbered less than 10 per cent.

It’s also about keeping up with the Chopras. “People want to keep up with their friends and neighbours. There is peer pressure to own what others do. And if they don’t have the money, then a conflict arises, which leads to stress and despair,” says Farokh Jijina, president, Befrienders India, part of a world-wide organisation for the lonely and suicidal.

Debt suicides are finding their way into small towns as well. A Jamshedpur-based NGO, Jeevan, tabulated the total suicides in the town from January to June this year. It found that economic problems were the third most common cause of suicide. Twenty per cent of suicide calls that Jeevan receives are related to financial troubles. “The reasons range from unemployment, inability to repay debts and frustration because of low salaries,” says Mahaveer Ram, director, Jeevan.

With 9,500 suicides last year, Kerala has the highest suicide rate in the country. “Debt is a very big problem in Kerala,” says Rajesh Pillai, director, Maithri, a Kochi-based suicide prevention centre. Travel through the state and you see palatial houses dotting the countryside. “People spend heavily on building houses, buying jewellery and in marriages,” says Pillai.

But what they spend is often borrowed money. Thirty-five per cent of the suicide calls that Maithri receives arise out of debt issues. “Debt is the second most common cause of suicide in the state,” says Pillai.