By Vandita Morarka “People call us hijra, chakka and all sorts of things, no one asks us our individual names or what we want to be called. Terminology doesn’t matter when there is no respect,” Surekha*, a transgender woman from…
Year: 2018
Your Stories: Autism Awareness
(By Kishore Mohan and Merryn John/ Health Collective)
Avoid Stereotypes, Navigate Your Way to Mental Health
Havovi Hyderabadwalla is a clinical and forensic psychologist, who believes that the knowledge of psychology is a powerful tool that can improve lives. Edited excerpts of her interview with The Health Collective’s Sukanya Sharma. Can you take us through any gender-related…
The Phantom Pain Monster: My Battle with PTSD and Fibromyalgia
By Sohni Chakrabarti How do you begin to chart the cartographies of pain? Where do you really start? Is there ever a starting point to your pain? A certain location within the map of your mind where you can pin-point…
Life Beyond Trauma: A Therapy Guide
By Scherezade Siobhan The recent months have seen the emergence of a resounding global movement that is countering the unfortunate prevalence of sexual, emotional and physical violence against women and woman-identified folks. There is a developing social consciousness that is rightly…
Ask the Experts: A Psychologist’s Journey
The Health Collective/ Image courtesy Raw Pixel This Women’s Day, as part of our special series, we’re bringing you more from and about our wonderful contributors. Here are edited excerpts of an interview with Kamna Chhibber, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Head, Mental…
Mental Illness, Stigma and Gender Stereotypes
By Shubhrata Prakash Mental illness is tough on everyone, men and women, and even tougher on children; and so is the social stigma surrounding its various forms. No one has it easier simply because they are a man or a…
Overcoming Depression: A Non-Stop Fight
By Riya* I have had a difficult, tiring experience with depression. But I fought and overcame it all. Here is my story. I was a brilliant student until my 10th standard, when I had a nervous breakdown. The doctors in…
Solo’s Sadventures: Episode 5
Art by Solo for The Health Collective Also Read: More Sadventures by Solo Solo is a writer and cartoonist from Bangalore. She likes reading, playing video games and binge-watching Netflix. Her life would have been rather unremarkable had it not been for her BPD…
Understanding Tourette’s Syndrome
By now, you would have seen the trailer of the upcoming movie Hichki, starring Rani Mukerji, in the role of a character who has Tourette’s Syndrome, who finally gets a job as a teacher. While we’ll leave the reviews for…