Play therapy is a developmentally responsive modality uniquely suited for children to help prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development. Developmentally, children lack the cognitive ability to meaningfully communicate their thoughts, feelings, and experiences through the abstract means of verbal language. The concrete objects (toys, art, etc.) and other play-based experiences provided in play therapy afford children an age-appropriate and emotionally safe means to express their difficult experiences.

The understanding of mental illness has evolved over the years. Right from being thought to be due to possession by evil spirits to the current bio-socio-psychological model of illness, what has remained consistent however is the violation of their human rights. Though the efforts to redress this have started from the times of Pinel, the real focus has been only after the introduction of the various international and regional instruments for protection of human rights. Under these there is a paradigm shift from protecting society from the mentally ill to protecting the mentally ill.

India as a Nation had done more research in the concept of mind and body- mind than any other in the world. The basis of her philosophy is both spiritual and scientific. Her concept of Kundalini is broadly analogous to the west concept of libido. The concepts of the structure of mind, body, soul and libido have spread far and wide through her religious literature. This was responsible for its fast spread and sustained survival despite repeated onslaughts; but this is precisely the same reason why the present day mental health professionals entertain biased reservations against such vast treasure of knowledge. Nevertheless, an unbiased approach to the subject would bring out many scientific facts that if discretely incorporated into the scientific literature of behavioral sciences, would certainly enrich the subject. A point of interest which is highlighted in this article is… while the West searches for abnormality in the human mind, India searches for the absolute Ideal in the same. Both are apparently contradictory indeed; but if brought together, the understanding, of human mind and behavior, would take a healthier turn and become more meaningful. The article refers to the Pancha kosa theory, the Chakra theory, and the structural concept of the mind as per Indian philosophy.

Background: Persons with psychiatric co- morbidity have markedly high risk of suicide attempts. Aim To study the socio-demographic variables, role of life events and prevalence of psychiatric diagnosis in suicide attempters. The present study has been undertaken with an intention to have deeper insight in to the mental health of suicide attempters. Methods A semi structured interview consisting of socio-demographic details, a proforma to document suicide attempt data, Presumptive Stressful Life Event scale (PSLE) to know the desirable or undesirable life events. Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview plus (MINI Plus) was used to assess the psychiatric abnormality. Data was statistically analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences - Version 10 (SPSS -10). Results: Suicide attempters experience peaking of stressful events in the early months before the attempt. Most common diagnoses were depression, personality disorders, followed by alcohol dependence and anxiety disorders. Conclusion: Suicide attempters are more among the groups of young age, female gender, rural background, married, belonging to nuclear family and low socio economic class. Majority of the suicide attempters are suffering with psychiatric illness.

Background Though sterilization is a popular method of contraception, there are some concerns about the psychological sequelae including regret after the procedure. Such regret may result in lifelong personal distress. Aims To study the psychological status in terms of depression & anxiety in women who have undergone female sterilization and to know whether these changes affect the quality of life. Methods This is a cross sectional questionnaire based study of women of reproductive age group. Various instruments assessing anxiety, depression and quality of life have been administered. The data is statistically analyzed. Results The mean anxiety and depression scores were low in these subjects. Similarly the quality of life was good in all domains. However the subjects experienced sexual problems like anxiety about sex (3.3%), decreased libido (10%) and decreased frequency of coitus (31%), whereas the menstrual symptoms were not affected significantly Conclusions The findings indicate that literacy rate, self motivation, knowledge of procedure and constant availability of medical services have impact on outcome of the procedure.

This study is an attempt to understand the television (TV) viewing by elderly and how elderly are depicted in certain daily programs. A sample of rural and urban elderly men and women were interviewed through a structured schedule to assess their views regarding depiction of elderly in the media. Results highlighted certain stereotyping projections and incidence of domestic abuse in the depiction of characters of elderly. The constructive role of media in promoting positive ageing was highlighted.

In the pharmacological management of depression, antidepressant drugs take about two weeks for the onset of their therapeutic action while electroconvulsive therapy though faster, is a cumbersome procedure requiring an anesthetist and many gadgets. Recent studies have shown that ketamine when given to severely depressed patients in the dose of 0.5mg/kg body weight as a slow intravenous infusion over 40 minutes brought about rapid and significant relief within a few hours to within a day. It was however a transitor y improvement which lasted for up to a week. As the dose of ketamine administered was very small, it was now tried in the intramuscular route with similar rapid improvement of depressive symptoms in a 25 year old man. His case is reported here as it promises to be an easy tool for providing quick relief to severely depressed patients.

Dissociative symptoms at times amounting to disorders are common and are culturally accepted in many Asian cultures but presenting not often to the psychiatric facility for management. This case report is to discuss about problems in evaluation of new symptoms during the course and difficulties in different management strategies. This is a case report of a female patient presenting with dissociative paraplegia for more than 8 months duration with resistance and substitution of symptoms during the process of management.

Esquirol was a pioneer in the field of psychiatry who has transformed psychiatry as a medical speciality. He became the prototype of psychiatric specialist. All his activities were dedicated to the study and treatment of mental disorders and the teaching of psychiatry. He originated descriptive clinical approach and made psychiatry as a profession. He acquired fame as great as Pinel's treatise. The present paper presents a brief overview of his life and his contributions.