The human mind is difficult to fathom, observed Sanjeev Jain, Emeritus Professor, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, as he walked his audience through the history of psychiatry. He was delivering a lecture on ‘The Evolution of Psychiatry and its History in India’ as part of the Keshav Desiraju Memorial Lecture Series, organised by Cognizant Foundation and The Banyan’s partnership for the mental health sector.
He spoke on how civilisations across the world, be it Greek, Chinese, Indian or Egyptian, had their own methods to treat mental illnesses. Though psychiatry is a young science, the struggle to treat mental illnesses had a long history, he said. His thought-provoking presentation gave a glimpse of treatment of persons with mental illnesses in colonised countries, during wars between countries and during linguistic division of States in India. When the States were bifurcated, asylums were downsized, leaving people with mental illness stranded.
Not all persons will recover completely from a bout of illness. There are chronic disorders that need constant, lifelong management. The remedy is to keep in touch with patients and their families through their life, he explained. Creation of asylums for persons with mental ailments is older than psychiatry itself. In fact, the idea of an asylum in India found mention in a book written during the reign of Shah Jahan, Dr. Jain said.
