Ashoka University Clinical Psychology

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Religion and Schizophrenia (Alida)

Cynthia was a promising student in 10th grade, and an overall happy girl. However in the near future, all of this would be forgotten about her, and a few episodes would later become her label. She would occasionally get violent towards her classmates, and she would talk about the monster that she saw before every episode. Due to this incident, she was put in an isolated room for the safety of the rest of the class. She would always carry a bible in her bag as she believed it would chase away the monster.. Cynthia was in a strict religious environment, a nun's school, and the beliefs in that society were not favorable for somebody suffering from schizophrenia. On one hand Cynthia is taking treatment to ease her symptoms, while on the other hand her classmates would recite the rosary to cast out the demon in her. Cynthis is just one girl who has been shunned by society, because she has a condition that most people refuse to understand. In this paper, we will analyze the inter

Why Kanye’s openness about bipolar disorder is beneficial (Alida)

At the age of 39, Kanye was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He was open about it in his music, and his wife Kim as well has been reiterating the issues of mental health.. Since his diagnosis, Kanye has always been in the spotlight, scandal after scandal. In 2020, in his presidential campaign, he claimed that Harriet Tubman did not free the slaves, but instead sold them to other slave owners. Fast forward, he would get divorced by his seven year long wife, Kim Kardashian, and the drama could not stop from then. Kanye would start harassing Kim’s new boyfriend, and he would blast all his efforts to get back with Kim on social media. The social media stunts would be highly dramatic, like sending a truck full of flowers to Kim's house, or sharing the texts she sends him on his status. .Many people were laughing at the matter, while others insisted that people take it seriously. The dilemma was that some people were accusing Kanye of harassing Kim, while others were claiming that Kanye

Cognitive Enhancement Drugs: A Social Dilemma

Divyanshu Yaduvanshi Ever wondered if a pill or the use of a substance could make you smarter and you are able to cognitively function at a significantly higher rate? Although this sounds like a myth but with the growing modern medicine and resources this might seem possible in near future with limited detrimental side effects. The current psychological war with diseases pertaining to neurocognitive disorders like Alzheimer, Dementia, etc. have led to more and more research on cognitive enhancement drugs which might help the patients with these disorders but what if these drugs are used by healthy individuals to boast their cognitive performance and move higher in the socioeconomic ladder or competitive sports. The idea of cognitive enhancement has been used widely like consuming caffeine to enhance vigilance, working memory, and incidental learning or the use of nicotine for enhancing episodic memory, working memory, and attention in the short term (Hooley et al., 2021). This bl

Still Alice : A look into 'art of losing'

Snigdhaa Rajvanshi In an interview with The Guardian , people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease described Still Alice as “[….] a shockingly accurate representation of [my] own experience.” (Seymour, 2018). Hitting the silver screens in December 2014, Still Alice is the motion picture adaptation of its namesake novel written by Lisa Genova. Starring Julianne Moore as the protagonist, the movie won many awards including Academy Award for best actress and an Oscar nomination for the same. This movie is not alone in portraying the struggles of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease on the big screen. However, this movie stands out due to its specific focus on rare Early Onset Alzheimer’s disease and the subsequent effects it has on the life of the patient and their families. Given the popularity and critical acclaim of the film, along with the lack of knowledge about Early Onset Alzheimer’s in the general population, it becomes important to analyze how accurate this movie was in portraying th

Parkinson’s disease and impairment in Theory of Mind:

Ameya Naik Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterised as a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leads to tremors, stiffness, and in later stages difficulties in balancing, coordination, and walking. Apart from motor symptoms, PD also shows the manifestation of non-motor symptoms like cognitive impairment ( APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d. ). One of these cognitive impairments of PD is postulated to be the impairment in Theory of Mind (ToM). ToM is defined as one’s ability to ascribe mental states such as beliefs, intentions, desires, and knowledge to others, even when those mental states are different from their own ( APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d. ). It plays an essential role in predicting others' behaviour and is comprised of two components— the affective component of ToM and the cognitive component of ToM. Hence, this blog post aims to analyse the impairment of the cognitive and affective components of ToM in patients with PD and the implications and future direction

Alzheimer’s and the Burden of Care-giving

Priyamvada Mohta Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by increasing cognitive deficits, like weakening memory, poor judgement and dementia resulting in an inability to take care of oneself. (Hooley et al., 2021) Individuals with Alzheimer’s require support from their families and close friends due to their inability to take care of themselves. The loss of one’s sense of self in Alzheimer’s, the lack of a cure and general knowledge about the disease and the increasing burden due to the worsening of cognitive impairments create an immense burden on care-givers, It is estimated that over 40% of individuals over the age of 85 have Alzheimer’s disease. (Hooley et al., 2021) The rate of Alzheimer’s in a population increases by almost double, every five years from the age of 40. (Hooley et al., 2021) This disease then creates a massive burden of caregiving in a population due to the debilitating cognitive impairments and the sheer number of patients suffering from the disease. Individuals suf

Mental Health and Parkinson’s Disease- An Analysis of Maggie’s Character in Love and Other Drugs

Rabani Bhatti Love and Other Drugs is a 2010 Hollywood movie that revolves around the lives of Jamie Randall and Maggie Murdock. A little dramatised, and understandably so, the movie is an honest attempt at the portrayal of Parkinson’s disease as it takes us through the life of Maggie and the challenges she faces with early onset Parkinson’s disease. Jamie meets Maggie as a free-spirited, independent and emotionally unavailable artist who runs away from any semblance of a meaningful relationship. The film gives us a glimpse into their whirlwind romance as it takes us through the highs and lows of Maggie and Jamie’s relationship. While the main focus of the film is the love story between Maggie and Jamie, another subtle message that comes out of the film is that Parkinson’s disease and its effects are not only limited to impairments in motor skills, cognition, etc. but also have an impact on one’s mental health and the way patients view themselves. Parkinson’s disease is an incurable

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