Isha Nagpal There is hardly ever a positive connotation attached when we talk about someone doing drugs. With several harmful impacts attached to doing drugs, there is a widespread taboo that has been attached to them. This has prevented researchers from trying and studying some of the interesting medical uses that some of these drugs might have. Recently, there has been certain advocacies about researching the medical uses of drugs and that also led to certain revelations about drugs being useful in treating mental illnesses. One of the most important breakthroughs has been research regarding the use of MDMA or Ecstasy in treating symptoms of PTSD along with psychotherapy.  The Scientific American recently published an article written by Will Stone and Kaiser Health News titled ‘MDMA , or Ecstasy, Shows Promise as a PTSD Treatment’. The article talks about a certain research being currently undertaken which is being privately funded by Multidisciplinary Association for Psy...

Deeya Biswas John Luther believed that "Sports psychology is an area which attempts to apply psychological facts and principles to learning performance and associated human behaviour in whole field of sports."  As an interdisciplinary science, Sports psychology incorporates knowledge and research from the fields of  Psychology and Kinesiology. It entails the study of how psychological elements influence performance and how involvement in sports and exercise influence physical and psychological factors. In supplement to this the training and instruction of psychological skills for performance improvement, applied sport psychology included operating with not only the athletes but also coaches and parents regarding numerous branches including rehabilitation, injuries , team building, communication skills and career adjustments. Sport psychology is tool used for team sports as well as individual fitness undertakings because of which it is also referred to as ...

Anu Khandelwal While growing up, we are all imparted social and ethical values by our family and friends- to be respectful towards others, accept other viewpoints and to be cognizant of one’s pain and emotions. While this might seem ordinary, here lies the underlying problem: not many people are fortunate enough to be born and raised in a safe environment, receiving the same values and developing a sense of empathy in situations that heavily demand attention and care.  Marina Abramovic, a performance artist, took it upon herself to measure people’s lack of empathy and disregard for human life. In the experiment, Rhythm 0, Marina created a disturbing artwork- she stood blindfolded in front of a table that had 72 objects placed on it. While some of the instruments were simply for pleasure, others were not. The list of objects ranged from a rose, a feather, a glass of water, a lipstick, a shoe to dangerous instruments such as a knife, a razor blade, a hammer and a loaded p...

Deeya Biswas Teenagers today are the most copious users of social networking sites. Modern day teens and adolescents are being nurtured such an environment where numerous aspects of their lives and existence are mediated largely by social media. Therefore, doubts and arguments have emerged on the repercussions it has on the development of adolescents owing to how immersed and crucial social media has become in their lives. A study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine concluded that there stood to be an increase in problems sleeping and complaints about symptoms of depression as adolescents spent more time on social media. Since the existence of technology in society, social media and its use has been on a rise. Reports display that 92% of adolescents report using social media everyday, while 24% of that percentage are online “almost constantly”. Only 12% of teenagers between the ages 13 to 17 report that they do not have any cellphone. Lenhart (201...

A Study of an Uncommonly Common Syndrome      People often use the word delirious in everyday conversation. The word itself has various connotations, but what do we know about this illness called delirium? Delirium is a case of acute brain failure, where the mind lies in the midst of usual state of wakefulness and a stupor or a coma. Delirium is also known by many as the acute confusion state as it results in alteration of cognition and consciousness, leading to reduced ability to focus, sustain or shift attention (Echeverría and Paul, 2019). There are many among us who do not give delirium the importance it deserves and the severity that it must be treated with. Delirium is potentially preventable and treatable, but under-recognition of the syndrome and the lack of understanding of the underlying pathophysiology has hindered the successful development of therapies.        There is no primary cause for delirium and different patien...

Indian cinema has been hugely criticised for their portrayal of characters with mental disorders; whether it is Manjullika with diassociative identity disorder in the movie Bhool Bhulaiya or Kanagana Ranawat   being described as a   ‘psycho’ in the latest movie Judgemental Hai Kya . The movie Karthik calling Karthik , starring Farhan Akhtar revolves around the life of Karthik, a thirty year old male who has schizophrenia. The aim of this blog post is to analyse the movie’s portrayal of schizophrenia as a disorder.   One of the distinctive features of schizophrenia is having an altered sense of reality. This would include having the belief that people or things are going to harm or kill one, which ends up causing disruptions in the person’s normal day to day functioning. (Smith, Robinson & Segal)   Karthik leaves himself a message every night to himself and shortly wakes up to his phone ringing with no re-collection of ever leaving the message. He grows...

Trigger warnings: rape, schizophrenia, epilepsy  When a primary understanding of mental illnesses like schizophrenia comes from mainstream media, it becomes important to pay close attention to the accuracy of the portrayal. Films like Joker (2019), Fight Club (1999), and Shutter Island (2010), are among the highest grossing films that feature characters with symptoms of schizophrenia ("Most Popular Schizophrenia Movies and TV Shows - IMDb", 2019). Unfortunately, most of these popular portrayals depict those diagnosed with schizophrenia as being violent and unstable. While it is true that psychotic episodes can have violent manifestations, these portrayals fail to capture the nuances of schizophrenia (Goldberg, 2018). A highly accurate depiction, however, can be found in an Indian film that never entered the mainstream- 15 Park Avenue . The film revolves around Meethi, a middle-aged woman who is diagnosed with schizophrenia and epilepsy. This blog post will ...