I know it is gut wrenching to wake up these news and amidst pandemic losing lives to

suicide only make things worse.

Hii this is vaishnavi from cornered eye and this month is suicide prevention awareness
month.

We believe the best way to address this issue is to talk about it. So today, we are pleased to
welcome our first guest miss. Aditi boratkar ma'am. She Is a registered professional with
the rehabilitation council of India (RCI) and the Indian association of dance/movement
therapists(IADMT).

She provides consultations to the people seeking psycho-medical support.. She has done
her Mphil in clinical psychology. She has also done post-graduate level training in the Indian
classical dance form bharatanatyam, and has underwent special training in dance/movement
therapy with the international council of dance and UNESCO.. She has written an award
wining paper on comparative study of emotional intelligence and impulsivity among
practitioners of Indian classical dance forms and non-practitioners.

Thankyou ma’am for joining us.

Before we begin let me just take a moment to introduce Cornered Eye.

Cornered Eye is a student initiative. It is a platform created for the exchange of ideas and
opinions. We conduct discussions, debates, etc.

Having said that lets begin with our session. So ma'am, this is my first question to you :

Questions:

What makes people think of suicide?

People often think of suicide when they see ‘no way out’ to solve a
problem, or change a situation. There is a sense of hopelessness about
the future, about the world-or people in general or oneself.

It has been widely proven that social media has been one of the reasons of
suicide. So what do you think, how does media play a role in rising cases
of suicides.

What is the role of social media in rising cases of suicides?

I would say that a lot of people feel the pressure to be gram-worthy or like
worthy on social media. There is this need to portray a curated ‘perfect’
and ‘positive’ life. When things mismatch this ideal there is increased
dissatisfaction with oneself, one’s loved ones and one’s life. There is
difficulty in accepting ones negative life experiences, which in reality are
an inevitable part of your life.

Yes ma'am exactly! We are all in the race of portraying our lives as the perfect ones and this
process keeps altering our moods!

Are there any underlying mental health conditions which might lead to suicidal
thoughts?
Feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and worthlessness associated
with depression, and substance use have been associated with suicidal
thoughts. Persons experiencing hallucinations and delusions under their
influence might experience similar feelings and ideas of suicide. Although
these mental health conditions put persons under greater risk, there is no
data to prove their exclusivity. Any person under tremendous stress,
experiencing severe anger, anxiety, guilt or sadness can be vulnerable to
such thoughts.

Having talked about the reasons i also would like to know how can people
tackle these underlying conditions.

How can people tackle these underlying conditions?

The first thing one can do is accept that one is feeling this way, and
thinking this way. By accepting these feelings and thoughts, it becomes
easier to reach out to loved ones, and mental health professionals.
If at-all one is feeling overwhelmed or contempalating suicide the
decision to just delay taking action for a little bit longer and confiding in a
loved one/professional can make a huge difference.

Acceptance and not being harsh to yourself.

In the COVID 19 pandemic context, many people are worried for obvious reasons. As
a psychologist, what would you suggest to them?
I would suggest people to go back to gentle reminders of how this is
a ‘pandemic’ we are going through-how most of our plans have gone
awry and how we have been coping with this uncertainity for atleast
the past 6 months, now. It is not easy. Everyone is coping with this
in their own way. Setting up a daily self-care routine for oneself,
scheduling weekly-bi weekly calls with friends and family,
volunteering for causes that could benefit from your network/skill
set, taking up online courses and hobby classes, setting up
something fun for yourself every once a week, scheduling a call with
a mental health service provider as required are some of things that
could help ease the worry.

Just want to mention that ministry of social justice and

empowerment is up with a new initiative called kiran. It basically
provides support to people facing amxiety, depression, sucidal
thoughts, and other mental health concerns.

Looking at this present uncertainty, we are hearing about students suicide. What
would you tell to students?
Students spend upto 60 % of their time at school/college campus and with
their friends from school/college. Apart from the tremendous pressure of
the uncertainity of exams and of transitioning from university to work,
being cut off from friends can add to feelings of isolation, and frustration.
Often being a student means being financially dependent on another.
Seeing caregivers face financial duress through the pandemic can add to
stress experienced by students. I would tell the students to focus on
networking. Reaching out and talking to batchmates, classmates, seniors,
juniors, teachers, parents, role-models even can help see that you are not
alone in this. It would also be helpful in getting resources, planning add-on
courses, applying for internships, jod-positions and learn from their
experiences.

Some colleges, and mental health professionals offer discounted or free

support to students, reaching out such organisations could also offer
necessary support to students. If you have child, sibling or friend who is a
student you can support them by helping them connect with persons who
share their intersts, do a dream job of theirs, or organisations that would
help them contribute to the society-animal shelters, tutor younger kids
etc. You can also support them by validating their concerns, helping them
plan a course of action, scheduling a hobby with them.

Working on relationships and networks

Planning for future

Just to inform :

Govt has also launched manodarpan initiative to provide psycho-social

support to the students during covid outbreak and beyond.

What are the various techniques to maintain

a good mental health?
Mental health techniques focus on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours
to overcome our problems. Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours
influence and are in turn influenced by our physiological-especially
neurochemical responses. Major mental health techniques in practice at
present include:
1. Counselling (Outlet for difficult feelings, problem situations) 2.
Psychotherapy (Thought level,feeling level, or behavioural problem
solving)
3. Psychiatry ( Medication to calm anxiety, stabilise mood, regulate
hormones, improve sleep, appetite etc.)

As you have been trained in dance and movement therapy; So in what ways such kind
of art therapy works or helps in the recovery?
Art allows for creative experiencing and expression of difficult emotions.
To understand experiencing we can do a small activity: think of movie,
song, painting, etc. you really like. What about this do you like the most?
What about it can you relate to yourself?
To understand expression, the next time you experience something
intensely-anger, anxiety, sadness any feeling at all us this feeling as the
first word. Notice all the thoughts going through your mind as you think of
this word, and write two words to describe what you are noticing. Repeat
this process upto 6 words and then start reducing the number of words in
a desecnding order:
1 word e.g. anxiety
12 words e.g. feeling restless
123
1234
12345
123456
12345
1234
123
12
1
lLook at the final product. You have a poem about a certain feeling you
have felt.
In dance therapy, an example would be to take a step further and try to
express each word with a movement only.

In the context of keeping oneself physically fit regular exercise and healthy diet is
advised; Are there any such ways for being mentally healthy?
Our mind and body are deeply related. There is research evidence to
suggest that 30 minutes cardio activity can cause our brain to produce
dopamine or the ‘happy hormone’ instantly. There is also some evidence
suggesting that when angry we prefer fried food, when sad sweet fruits
and when content generally nutitious food. Our sleep, appetitie and
energy levels are the first things to get affected when our mental health is
affected. To keep them in check and keep our body fit, gives us the
strenghth to tolerate our psychological/mental problems. Still-
journaling-voice notes/writing/painting, engaging in hobbies, devising
self-care routines, and regularly meeting a counselor every once a while,
are some ways in which we can keep mentally fit.

A gentle reminder to you all..you matter..your life matters