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I MONOGRAPH
Psychiatric Consequences of WTC Collapse
and The Gulf War,
ISSN 0973-1229.
ISBN 81-89753-00-2.
Readers Respond
I am writing this letter to express my appreciation of the work
you are doing. It is something different from the routine medical articles in India and hence a refreshing and welcome change.
N. N. Wig Prof. Emeritus, Psychiatry, PGIMER, Chandigarh
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I congratulate you for writing a very important
document. As you know we have been working with the various disasters in the last 20 years. It will be useful if we can get
together and discuss the common areas of interest.
R. Srinivasa Murthy
Prof. of Psychiatry NIMHANS
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Comments
(I) About the Monograph :
(1) It is an important issue and very timely, and
can be a good stimulus for Indian authors to start addressing such problems in greater numbers.
(2) For a monograph, it is too brief. The
historical background (the studies of PTSDs in the past wars/disasters) could have been in greater detail; and the outcome
of those sufferers (if any such studies are available) could have been included.
(3) Even now, you can, if you find it reasonable,
attempt the above in the Monograph’s next edition.*
(4) Keep up the good work.
(II) About the
contents/issues raised in the Monograph :
(1) Your
idea of three earlier revolutions in the field of mental health is excellent. But the fourth revolution is not “evidence-based,
integrated movement in Psychiatry”. The reasons for this are many :
(a) Evidences that are currently available are not
complete, nor are they capable of integration. So far, majority of research findings are ‘disconnected’ islands
(not comparable, not logically connected, etc.), based exclusively on (i) politics of research financing (ii) Conveniences
of research guides, etc.
(b) Available evidences are skewed or distorted
(viz: ‘biological basis of behaviour’ as against the accumulating “evidence” that psychology influences
biology/biochemistry!), predominantly influenced by pharmacological monarchs.
(c) Because
of the reasons sited in ‘a’ above, a proper integration is not yet possible. Ofcourse, attempts in that direction
are always worthwhile.
(2) Really, the fourth revolution will be
(or can be) when all medicine is acknowledged as psychosomatic medicine (for example, in Ayurveda, there is not a single disease
one of whose etiological factors is not psychological); when it is recognised that an individual’s attitude and value
systems will play a major role in whether he is healthy or ill.
(3) The questions that you have raised at the end
are not easily answerable in a way that majority of people want to benefit from the answers.
(a) Every individual is in search of truth, but
he/she wants the truth according to his own expectations. Most people are terrified by the truth. A proof of this statement
in the present day culture is where progress (individual level, social level, or cultural level) is equated with a behaviour
of pretence! People always strive to project an image contrary to what is .
(b) Over the decades (or centuries), there
have been an erosion of values( let alone social values, even of such a personal value as sincerity to one’s own belief
systems). Consequently, such a corruption of values has spread to intellect, social interactions, commerce, and political
behaviour. The consequences of what is happening all over the world can be likened to a state of ‘septicemia’
of the human race!
(c) I am not at all a pessimist. I believe that
nature will cure this septicemia, but the price will be very heavy, and the time-scale very large.
- Prof. Dr.C. Shamasundar, (Retired), NIMHANS
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This is to felicitate you two on your endeavour to bring about the FourthPsychiatric Revolution through the Mens Sana Monographs
- All the very Best! I wish to share with you a Quotation from a Discourse of the Buddha to the Kalamas
, which perhaps is the First Charter of Freedom of Thought in
human history. The Buddha advises therein :
DON’T ACCEPT SOMETHING BECAUSE (I) you
have heard it many times; (2) it has been believed in traditionally for generations; (3) it has been believed in by a large
number of people; (4) it is in accordance with your scriptures; (5) it seems logical; (6) it is in line with your own beliefs;
(7) it is proclaimed by your teacher, who has an attractive personality and for whom you have great respect.
ACCEPT IT ONLY AFTER you have realised it yourself at the experiential
level and found it to be wholesome and beneficial to one and all*. Then not only accept it but also live up to it.
Dr. R. M. Chokhani
Psychiatrist, Mumbai
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