Bhavya Dixit Warning: Spoilers. Cinema has been described as the most influential form of media, responsible for communicating information on a large scale. While trying to communicate certain kinds of information, the conveyances gets clouded by stigmas. Stigma is defined as “a sign of disgrace or discredit, which sets a person apart from others”. It is a serious problem faced by those experiencing mental health issues. Cinema often aids stigmatization towards this population. Horror specifically, more than any other genre, has been directly implicated in this regard. People with mental illnesses are portrayed in an extremely negative light that is not representative of reality. There are a few films that do justice when portraying mental health, but the majority of 21 st Century films paint an unfair picture. (Goodwin, 2013) We gather from the research conducted by Goodwin that out of the 55 movies analysed, horror as a genre is repeatedly linking psychosis with dangerous...

Substance abuse (Alcohol) and its Disorders: The Behavioural Genetics of Alcoholism Alcohol is a widely used and consumed beverage all across the world. As the consumption of this beverage becomes more than what is healthy for the body, it leads to substance abuse problems. Heavy episodic drinking is a major problem for many people who are addicted and abuse alcohol. Alcoholism or heavy episodic drinking is a common and a costly behavioural disorder. But what causes this disorder? Are the reasons environmental, genetic or social? Here, I shall discuss the behavioural genetics of alcoholism in terms of both genetic and environmental factors. Then the discussion will focus on the problems related to heavy episodic drinking and treatment of the same. There have been many studies that have attempted to identify the major factors that contribute to a person developing heavy episodic drinking at any point on life. From many such studies it is known for a fact that a person ...

Yashant Sharma Remedial Blog post In detailing the humiliations and laborious hardships of the underground man, Dostoyevsky in, Notes from Underground attempts to answer a question raised by Rousseau close to a hundred years prior: can we truly know ourselves? This blog post aims to explore the role of social anxiety and the concept of self through the dialogue of Notes from Underground. It traces the role of ambiguity and contradiction in the underground man's recollection of his memories. Notes from underground is a memoir of confused and often contradictory confessions by Dostoyevsky, describing and explaining his alienation from modern society. The underground man develops a state of conflict between the self and the other, which is a bearer of strong beliefs related to religion, morals, culture, etc (Dostoyevsky, 1994). It is argued that when growing in unfavorable circumstances, the world is perceived as hostile by the child and certain techniques are developed over time t...

It is quite common for us to come across various newspaper articles reporting different crimes in different areas. While we dig deeper into these stories, few pondering questions that always come to our mind would be: Was the guilty found? How could someone possibly commit to such an erroneous act of hostility and vengeance? In society, a lot of people struggle dealing with a person having a mental disorder owing to the sti gmas and stereotypes deeply embedded since times unknown. They view them as “others”- dangerous people that you’ve always been advised to maintain a safe distance from might fall under the category of being mentally ill.  However, it is essential to adopt the right attitude towards people that exhibit abnormal behaviour to make them feel inclusive rather than an outcast in society. Their treatment for a better lifestyle can be made possible by being cooperative and extending a hand for help towards them.  Netflix’s new series “Mindhunter” is qu...

 Vedika Puri “ We of the craft  are all  crazy . Some are affected by gaiety, others by melancholy, but all are more or less touched.”- Lord Byron (Goodreads) The stereotypical belief of ‘depressed artists’ and ‘mad scientists’ has for long been propagated by popular culture and has led to the development of much beloved characters like Will Hunting, James Moriarty, and Nina Sayers. In fact, the link between creativity and psychopathology has ancient roots since it was Aristotle who first wrote that philosophers, poets and artists all have tendencies toward “melancholia” (Bailey 2003). Despite such a widespread acceptance of the association between creativity and mental illness, this post aims to debunk the myth by challenging the existing proof to date. Three psychiatrists have provided much of the widely referenced evidence for the link between creativity and psychopathology. In 1987, Nancy Andreasen compared the rate of mental illness in write...

Mehak Vohra Disorders of consciousness (DoC) are medical conditions with inhibited consciousness such as minimally conscious states, a persistent vegetative state, and even chronic coma. DoC presents unique problems during diagnosis, prognosis and treatment, since it is extremely difficult to assess an individual’s consciousness and is caused by traumatic head injuries. Due to the difficulties in forming an accurate diagnosis, and inadequate knowledge about the residual symptoms experienced, there is difficulty in forming rehabilitation techniques for DoC. This paper will look at how rehabilitation techniques for disorders of consciousness could be improved by eliminating the possibilities of misdiagnosis through better aids. In a research study conducted by Macdonald et al on patients thought to be in the vegetative state (VS) of a comma under DoC, it was found that they were often misdiagnosed as covert signs of conscious awareness went unnoticed. The cost of a misdiagnosi...

Mihika Poore “Maine pehli baar drug li kyuki mei dad se naraz tha, doosri baar kyuki maa bemaar thi, teesri baar tak, mei drug addict ban chuka tha” Sanju is a biopic of Sanjay Datt, which portrays the intense emotional phases of Sanjay’s journey as he loses his mother, was under arrest for five years and earlier was a drug addict. Though he desired cocaine and heroin the most, the movie revealed how he had consumed almost every drug from Hallucinogens to Quaaludes. The audience could experience his uncontrollable craving and helplessness. This blog attempts to understand the power of substance abuse on an addict by looking at the accurate portrayal of the same in the movie ‘Sanju.’ Addiction is a complex condition, a brain disease that is caused by compulsive intake of a substance leading to harmful consequences that can cause a substance abuse disorder. People with such addictions acquire distorted thinking and behavior over time (“What is Addiction”). At first, the drugs pr...

In 1997, Billy Milligan was arrested and charged with kidnapping, robbing and raping multiple women in Ohio, USA. He was the first person to successfully use multiple personality disorder as an insanity defence in the courtroom. The policemen reported evidence of him 'talking to different people at different times' when he was arrested. One of the rape victims even told the lead investigator that Milligan had a German accent, even though he was born and raised in the United States. Another victim commented that 'He was sometimes so nice to me, that I would consider dating him in a different circumstance." All of these supporting evidence which pointed to his dissociative identity led the judge to resolve the plea to insanity in his favour. Even though this was a rare instance, the case of Billy Milligan raised an essential question regarding the 'alter-in-control' insanity plea raised by people with multiple personalities. They claim tha...