The Mind Pod, Conversations on Mental Health

Colours, music, dance, movement, clay - the joy art brings into our life. Our conversation today is going to be about art as therapy - Art Therapy. So what is Art Therapy? How and when is it used for healing? Learn about this fascinating technique and we hope that you’ll want to explore Art Therapy as it is not just a treatment for clinical illnesses, but also plays a significant role in enhancing our overall wellness. Dr Samir Parikh is joined by two exceptional people - Aleena Ali and Tanushree Sangma, both counselling psychologists and expressive arts-based therapists - in a riveting conversation about Art Therapy in this episode of The Mind Pod.

This week’s subject is probably one of the most well-known words related to mental health - Schizophrenia. Most well-known, most misunderstood and perhaps, the most misused. Used as a slur, used as a comment, portrayed from comedy to violence to psychopathy in the media instilling a wide range of emotions in people except for empathy. We will dwell upon this topic with two well-known psychiatrists Dr Kedar Tilwe and Dr Vasanth Renganathan who will join Dr Samir Parikh as they help us understand what is Schizophrenia, what can we do about it, and what is the way forward for someone suffering from this illness.

Depression - it’s a commonly used word, yet so misunderstood. Depression as an illness has so many aspects to it - the stigma, the lack of awareness, the discrimination. More importantly, how do learn more about it, and what do we do about it. That’s going to be the conversation in this episode of The Mind Pod as psychiatrists Dr Kedar Tilwe and Dr Vasanth Renganathan join Dr Samir Parikh for this very important conversation on mental health.

Who would have thought that games would one day be associated with a disorder? It used to be that games were synonymous with the absolute joy of spending time with your friends, the fields, running around and the beauty of getting tired. Then, digitalisation happened and the games shifted from the real fields to the virtual world. And then as young minds started exploring the world of games, we have arrived at a situation where ICD 11 has added Gaming Disorder to its list of ailments. Let’s find out from Dr Rupika Dhurjati and Dr Jatin Talwani about this modern-day problem as they join Dr Samir Parikh in this week’s episode.

In this week’s episode, Dr Samir Parikh chats with Dr Rupika Dhurjati, Psychiatrist and Tara Mehta, Clinical Psychologist about postpartum depression. It’s a topic largely neglected in the conversation about mental health. Find out why it is so important, what can and needs to be done, and why mental health professionals now increasingly focus on peripartum mental health.

Can I feel lonely in a crowd? Can loneliness actually affect my health? Has loneliness become a modern ailment? In this episode of Mind U, psychiatrist Dr Samir Parikh and clinical psychologist Kamna Chhibber - coauthors of Alone In The Crowd: Overcoming Loneliness of Urban Living - give us answers to these questions and more. So, listen up!

If we reflect on the way we live, especially in the urban areas - running here, running there; deadline here, deadline there; your gadgets, emails, notifications, daily chores; time for friends, for family, for self, for fun - all of it almost seems like a task. Constantly feeling rushed. How do I relax? How do I take that one breath for myself? And how do I manage - not just navigate - urban spaces? How do I bring a little bit of mindfulness into my life? And how do improve the quality of my life? Dr Samir Parikh and clinical psychologist Kamna Chhibber give us answers to these questions and more. So, listen up!

In this instalment of The Mind Pod, join cognitive behavioural therapist Mimansa Singh Tanwar, clinical psychologist Kamna Chhibber and Dr Samir Parikh for a chat about relationships - sometimes negative experiences, or toxicity, as some psychologists call it, creeps in. Sometimes individuals are aware of it, sometimes they aren’t. And these toxic relationships then take a toll on individuals, families, and everyone involved. So what exactly is a toxic relationship? How are these boundaries crossed? How does one know they are in a toxic relationship? What is the communication pattern in such relationships? Answers to these, and many other important questions in this episode.

Hardly anything would matter to us than the well-being of our children. Join us for a chat between Dr Samir Parikh and Mimansa Singh Tanwar, clinical psychologist, on how as parents we deal with bullying experiences our children face. Learn how to guide children to deal with the experience of being bullied, how to deal with the bully, how to prevent a long-term negative impact and yet teach our children important life skills.

In this episode, Divya Jain, Counselling and Sports Psychologist, joins Dr Samir Parikh for a very important conversation - work-life balance. Indeed, it would be hard to find one person who didn’t wish they could better balance their personal and professional lives. And it has only become more and more prominent as our lives have become more digital, which has led to work entering your home more easily. So, listen and learn easy ways to regain this balance.