Chennai, January 2020: Chennai’s well known and renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Shuba Charles’s two books about mental illness; “Schizophrenia debunked, talking away mental illness” (briefs on the case study of a successfully treated 15-year old Schizophrenic girl, residing in Malaysia, through ‘Talk Therapy’ using WhatsApp Messenger), in English and “Manathellam Mathappoo” (briefs on the real life case studies treated) in Tamil, were released at India’s first and only “Brain Gym” by Padma Bhushan awardee Dr. B.M. Hegde, Cardiologist and Er. J.S. Rajasingh, Kingsway Consultants, in the presence of Mr. L. Charles, Senior Chartered Accountant. The “Brain Gym” was also inaugurated by Dr. Hegde and Er. Rajasingh.
Today, it is still not easy to mention words such as mental illness, depression or undergoing treatment in a conservative society like India, be it for a senior citizen, working parent, teenager or even a child. For instance, the book “Talking away mental illness” is a compilation of recorded talks with a teenager, who was treated over a period of 3 years, by ONLY counselling over the telephone and was treated with no medication.
“The very idea of opening Brain Gym was created to give back to society. The idea here, is to have anyone walk in, relax, destress, just talk, undergo counselling without any prejudice. Brain Gym will be open 24 hours a day and night with an inaugural “free for the 1st month” offer for women and for senior citizens above 75 years it is totally free,” said Dr. Shuba Charles.
“Unfortunately, very little is known about stress and we hope to make a difference. For example, Internal stress is high during this time of intense growth due to physical, sexual psychoneurological changes and External pressure for social conformity can be great source of stress to the young immature minds,” she added.
At Brain Gym, unlike ordinary gyms that promote physical fitness, the team assists and helps in training of mental, psychological, social and spiritual fitness. Today’s children have tremendous knowledge but lack the power to control their emotions and to channelize it properly.
“It is important to note that, in the mind of children, the abundance of free Knowledge, fake and true over Internet, add to their confusion. As the typical response pattern to stress, these youngsters Fight / Flee / Freeze. This normal stress response patterns should not be interpreted as neither mental illnesses, nor treatment with antipsychotics and mood stabilizers. An understanding cultured mind can reverse the stress and calm the youngsters troubled minds,” she pointed out.
