FAQ

Yes mental illness is treatable.But in our society people do not prefer to talk about mental illnesses.These illnesses are not to be ashamed of.Its a medical condition just like heart disease or diabetes.With so much pressure,desire,competition stress has become a major part of our life.And if proper care is not taken then this stress can lead to an illness.These illnesses are completely curable on the condition that the disease is catched from the root itself and not prolonged further. We at Serenity make sure that you get a completely comfortable environment where you can discuss your problems and get solutions.

Unlike a psychologist, a psychiatrist is a fully qualified medical specialist who has completed at least 12 years (In India this is 9 years) of medical education in all aspects of medicine, surgery and psychiatry. Psychiatrists have a unique perspective in being able to diagnose, manage and care for people with mental illnesses and emotional problems whilst keeping both their emotional and physical states in perspective. In addition, psychiatrists are able to offer expert psychological and medical help in the balance required for the individual patient

This depends on various factors. Your family history, the number of times you have had emotional and behavioral problems in the past, the intensity of distress and suffering that the illness has caused and your personality before you became unwell are some of the important markers.
Importantly, the level of recovery also guides the period of continued medicines. A partial recovery means relapses can be prevented only with consistent medicines. A full recovery may mean use of medicines for the minimum period of time. This is usually 2 years after depression has completely lifted (if it is the first episode).
If you have been unwell in the past and the symptom free period is not very long, it is better to keep taking the medicines for as long as possible.
Once you start taking medicines, you become dependent on them! True or false?
The answer to this depends on your perception of ‘dependence’. 15 years back, life without a mobile was as good as it gets. Today, without my mobile, I can’t do anything. I am dependent on it. Good or bad! . . . .
If taking a few pills allows you to achieve what you want in life, then maybe its not so bad. The reason we advise long term medicines to many patients (even after they get better) is because the risk of the illness coming back is often quite high and the most effective way to minimise that risk is to continue to take appropriate medicines at an appropriate dose. If side effects are what is bothering you, then by all means discuss this with your psychiatrist and look for a medicine which will effectively keep you well and also not have any worrisome side effects. But do take your medicine!

Yes! One of the biggest obstacles for people recovering from mental illness is confronting the negative attitudes of other people. These often mean that people with mental illness face isolation and discrimination just for having an illness.
Positive and hopeful attitudes of family, friends, service providers, employers, and other members of the community toward people with mental illness are critical to ensuring quality of life for people with mental illness and supporting recovery.

Schizophrenia is a group of severe brain disorders in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking and behavior.

Although the precise cause of schizophrenia isn’t known, certain factors seem to increase the risk of developing or triggering schizophrenia, including:
• Having a family history of schizophrenia
• Exposure to viruses, toxins or malnutrition while in the womb, particularly in the first and second trimesters
• Stressful life circumstances
• Older paternal age
• Taking psychoactive drugs during adolescence and young adulthood

• Suicide
• Self-destructive behavior, such as self-injury
• Depression
• Abuse of alcohol, drugs or prescription medications
• Poverty
• Homelessness
• Family conflicts
• Inability to work or attend school
• Health problems from antipsychotic medications
• Being a victim or perpetrator of violent crime
• Heart disease, often related to heavy smoking

Counselling is where a trained mental health professional helps you overcome/solve a specific/single issue. The counsellor provides you with a range of solutions and helps you choose one of those. Some counsellors will also help you and support you while you are implementing the suggested course of action. Counselling is a passive exercise for the person being counselled. It involves a lot of supporting and encouraging statements by the counsellor and often boosts up your morale and helps you feel able to do things.
Psychotherapy deals with many problems and issues and involves an attempt to help you change your thinking, emotional behaviour and coping capacity. The therapist does not offer tailor made solutions but helps YOU find solutions using your own skills. A good psychotherapist will usually spend 2-3 sessions assessing you and understanding your psyche (way of thinking and behaving). After these initial sessions, a diagnostic formulation will be shared where the possibilities of change will be presented. It is at this stage that the client/YOU will decide how and what you wish to change and why? Usually, one session will be devoted to looking at what is required, what is possible and what is not. After that sessions will start, and will require active participation and effort by the client. The therapist is usually a guide and facilitator, sometimes a teacher (!) and sometimes a listener.
You have to have an open mind and an ability to accept faults (in yourself). You have to work on the suggestions that are generated in session. You have to be regularly in contact with your therapist and attend all sessions, at least every fifteen days.

The biological dysfunction that is causing emotional distress and not allowing you to function effectively, is best treated with medicines and supportive therapy.
Medicines are aimed at eliminating the dysfunction in your brain by enabling better control of your emotions and feelings. They strengthen the functioning of various chemicals/neurotransmitters in your brain.
Supportive therapy is aimed at answering your and your family’s many concerns about the illness, treatment and the future. Giving information, addressing issues related to family, job and social roles along with providing an environment where the illness is looked upon as a challenge in life to be overcome; are key elements of this therapy.

Good question! The best way is to organise your thoughts and mention the 3-4 main problems which you want help with. Then try and describe each of those AND the impact of each on your life. Specific examples would be helpful, like I can’t sleep at night and this makes me drowsy and lethargic in the daytime OR I am unable to control my thoughts and this prevents me from concentrating on my work/studies.
Secondly, listen to the Psychiatrist when (s)he is trying to explain to you the possible reasons for your feelings or thoughts or behavior. Ask if you do not understand or disagree with an interpretation or suggestion.
If you have been unwell in the past and have prescriptions and/or blood tests/imaging studies, please bring them with you and arrange them in date order. If possible write down the period when you have been unwell and when you have been well. Sometimes making a graph can be easier and helpful.

The psychiatrist’s choice of a particular treatment is based on its proven effectiveness in treating the symptom or illness. Psychiatric treatments are tested and researched in the same rigorous way that other medical treatments are scrutinized. Treatment methods can be physical, psychological or involve medication, or may be a combination of these approaches. In some cases, an admission to hospital is required for investigation and treatment.
Medical psychotherapy is an important method of treatment in which the psychiatrist and patient discuss problems during regularly scheduled sessions. The psychiatrist assists the patient to understand the basis of his or her problems and works with the patient to find a solution. Depending on the extent of the problem, such treatment may take a few sessions over several weeks or many sessions over a longer period of time. Psychotherapy, which means talking treatment, may be conducted with an individual patient, a group of patients or a family, and may be aimed at behavioral change or the gaining of emotional understanding.
A wide range of medications is now available for use in psychiatric illnesses. Medications can now effectively remove symptoms, alter the course of illnesses and commonly return patients to a normal life. In some instances, medications can be life saving, for example, in a case of a severe depressive illness. Psychiatrists are highly experienced in prescribing and monitoring these medications.

A difficult question to answer! Most psychiatric illnesses do not have an identifiable cause. While we have delineated the dysfunction that occurs in mental illnesses, we are as yet unaware of the mechanisms that trigger this abnormal function. Illness can occur at any time of your life; though they are more common in the age group 15-25 yrs. There is also an increase at around 45 yrs in females. The stressful life that we lead & our family and social environment, can be contributory but are not independently strong enough reasons for causing an illness.
A positive mind, an encouraging family and a supportive and caring society can help speed up the recovery and enable the patient to realize his full potential.
Current scientific thought supports the biopsychosocial model as being the mechanism that causes someone to have a psychiatric illness. This model suggests that biologically, we are all susceptible to an emotional or behavioral disorder. The start of this disorder requires a unique (to each individual) mix of psychological and / or social stress. Once triggered, the illness will then continue until treated appropriately, even if the stress is reduced or eliminated.

Daily meditation over a consistent period of time changes gray matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress. Researchers examined MRI scans of participants over a period of 8 weeks. Daily meditation sessions of 30-minutes’ duration produced measurable changes in subjects with no previous meditation history. Increased gray matter was discovered in the hippocampus, the learning and memory region of the brain. The anxiety and stress region of the brain, the amygdala, produced less gray matter. In a non-meditating control group, these positive changes did not take place.

There have been difficulties in clearly defining personality disorders. Previous research studies have suggested that up to 1 in 5 people might have a personality disorder. However, a larger and more rigorous UK study in 2006 suggested that, at any given time, about 1 in 20 people will have a personality disorder