Psychologist at work

Many schools in India seggregate boys & girls in the name of dicipline. A few reputed school known for specifically coaching students to secure high marks in board exams does not allow boys & girls to talk to each other, in their school premises. They can't use the same corridor & staircase. Students are viewed in the school bus through cameras to ensure that they don't speak to the opposite gender. Disciplinary action is taken against the one's who do not follow these rules. A leading private school had expelled two of its students - a girl and a boy - over “hugging” in public, triggering a raging debate on discipline and morality in the southern state. The girl, a Class 11 student, was embraced by the senior boy in front of the audience after she got the first prize for singing in a Western musical contest.    Should we segregate students on the basis of gender in a school???🙅 I feel we shouldn't. Interacting with people of opposite sex is par...

A little story Once upon a time there lived a beggar outside the premises of a palace. One day he read a poster on the palace gate.The poster carried an invitation to people to join the royal feast, offered by the King and only those who came in royal attire will be allowed inside the palace. He looked at himself from top to bottom. He was dressed up in dirty ragged clothes. Suddenly a thought stuck him. He knew that only the King and his kin possess royal clothes and he planned to visit the palace. Though he feared he didn't want to give up on his decision to visit the palace. He pleaded the Palace guard at the gate to let him meet the King. Finally the beggar got to meet the King. The beggar greeted the King & said that he wished to take part in the royal feast and thereby wants the King to lend him his old royal attire. The beggar conveyed this in a very polite manner. He gazed at the King out of fear unknowing what the King's reply would be. The King yielded t...

Many spheres in our society today considers women and men equal. Women today have the right to education, work, earn, travel & lead life independently. We have the right to choose our life partner. In case of marital disharmony we have the right to divorce & remarry. Women don't have to face social isolation if she had lost her husband. We are entitled to inherit our ancestral property & manage finances. We can fight legally for our rights. We can create an identity for ourselves. Women today hold honorable positions in all walks of life -teaching, administration, business, sports, research, medicine, law, army, politics, arts so on. This couldn't have been possible without the Legend. E. V. Ramasamy, popularly known as 'Thanthai Periyar'. He was modernized in his thoughts, even several years back when women were considered slaves to men. He fought against religious & cultural customs which suppressed the dignity of women. The breathing space we ex...

Kushi, 26yr old Lecturer went through a love breakup 6 months back. She took guidance from a mental health professional to deal with it. She regularly attended counselling sessions for 3 months. The counsellor empathised with her & enabled her vent out emotions. Kushi had to spend half an hour a day for emotional venting i.e. she had to maintain a journal where she could express her pain through art, paint, writing ( poem/story). Kush i was unable to focus on teaching, though it was her passion. Her confidence went down. The counsellor suggested Kushi to make weekly lesson preparation plans, for herself & would regularly supervise it. She encouraged Kushi to try new methodologies in teaching & establish healthy connection with her students. She also helped her find workshops on effective teaching & personality enrichment programs, enabling her to divert her focus on her career. S he encouraged Kushi to find a support group to talk to whenever she was in distress, ...

All of us would have felt lonely once in a while. We feel so when we are physically alone. We also feel so being in the midst of people. It depends on our state of mind. Whatever be the reason for our loneliness, we need to understand that prolonged loneliness is not healthy to us, as man is a social being. It can get us sick. Here are few ways in which we can fight loneliness. We can start talking to people in our immediate circle. Say for instance you live in an apartment, you can strike healthy conversations with your neighbors, go for a walk together, share cooking/gardening/parenting tips, you can invite them for coffee once in a while & vice versa. We can spend some time for those in need. We don't have to go out of our way to do things for people, but the most valuable thing, we can give others our time. We can telephone or meet our relative/friend suffering from physical ailment or emotional problems, to provide moral support by listening to them. We can also say som...