Letters to Editor
Indian way of psychotherapy: Looking at the possibilities
Sir,
From time immemorial, India has been concerned with
the concepts like perception (indriya), mind (manas),
intellect (buddhi), ego (ahamkara), self (atman), joy (sukham),
sorrow (dukham), etc. Now a day psychiatrists and clinical
psychologists alike are interested in these matters. The
difference is that our basic philosophical frame of reference
is science which believes in direct observation. From this,
the word evidence based medicine has come into existence.
The texts of the past were, as is claimed, not based on
experience. Rather, they were based on beliefs.
The problem with today’s Indian psychiatry is that common
people here are more in touch with the ancient thought
systems than with the mainstream psychiatry. This is being
told by me from my wide experience of practicing in the
rural belts. Is it possible to make psychiatry proceed in
India, without paying any heed to the work that is being
done here on the above‑mentioned topics for centuries?
The written gist of the ancient wisdom which still guides
Indian psyche directly or indirectly is known as Srimad
Bhagavadgita. This book centers on the refusal of a person
to do his work most probably due to some adjustment
disorder‑like thing, a long counseling on the part of a
very knowledgeable person and ultimate rise of the firstly
mentioned person above his refusal to do the work.
Now a day, mostly practiced psychotherapy is CBT.
Although psychoanalytic‑psychotherapy, rational emotive
behavior therapy, existential therapy, etc. are in the vogue.
All these are based on some western model of psyche.
The above‑mentioned counseling of Srimad Bhagavadgita
Two important issues in writing an abstract
Sir,
We carefully read previously published papers on
manuscript writing skills in Indian Journal of Psychiatry.[1]
We discussed about these papers in our Research
Mentorship Program,[2] and all medical students
followed this educational paper with much interest.
All medical students need to learn scientific writing
skills.[3]
Andrade mentioned some important issues regarding
writing an abstract.[1] In this paper, we will briefly add
information regarding title and key words which are two
important sections in a scientific abstract.
294
was based on a theory of mind that originated here many
centuries ago.
Several articles and some books[1‑3] point toward the need
for paying much more heed to the Indian culture and
spirituality and indirectly toward paying some heed to the
ancient Indian theory of mind. It is the time we try to form
one Indian model of psychotherapy, Indian way of talking
to the patients or clients to make psychiatry and clinical
psychology more acceptable to them. Let us try to do
this without compromising the principles of science that
believes in direct observation.
Anirban Mukhopadhyay
Department of Psychiatry, Deben Mahato Sadar Hospital,
Purulia, West Bengal, India
E‑mail: pallabi23mukhopadhyay@yahoo.ca
References
1. Shamsundar C. Relevance of ancient Indian wisdom to modern mental
health ‑ A few examples. Indian J Psychiatry 2008;50:138‑43.
2. Avasthi A. Indianising psychiatry – Is there a case enough? Indian J
Psychiatry 2011;53:111‑20.
3. Bhawuk DPS. Spirituality and Indian psychology. New York: Springer;
2011.
Access this article online
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Website:
www.indianjpsychiatry.org
DOI:
10.4103/0019-5545.102456
Title
Title should be obvious, short and related to the other
sections in the abstract. Some journals have some
limitations to the maximum number of the characters
or words in the title. If necessary, for example, in
cross‑sectional studies, the time and place of the study
should be added to the title. Laboratory researches and
some clinical researches such as randomized clinical trials
(RCTs) do not need time and place in their titles. It is
necessary in some studies that the study design be evident
in the title.
Do not forget that the title is the first part and usually the
only part of your paper which readers will encounter. It
Indian Journal of Psychiatry 54(3), Jul-Sep 2012
 Letters to Editor
should be interesting enough to obligate them to read the
abstract or whole paper.
Key words
Another important issue in abstract writing is choosing
good key words.
The number of key words is usually between 3 and 10.
But it depends on the journal or conference. It is not
recommended to use the city names in the key words. It
is highly recommended to check the words you want to
choose for your key words in the MeSH database.
Key words are usually used by Journals, Conferences, and
indexing databases for searching the paper. Inappropriate
key words or key words unrelated to your paper’s content
lead to some problems.
For example, one who needs to reach it through your key
words or one who reaches your paper using your keywords
then finds them unrelated to his/her search.
We presented some general information about key words
and title here.
Do not forget to read the “Instruction for authors” section in
every journal or conference before you complete your abstract.
Artistic intentional scar
Sir,
A 25‑year‑old male admitted to us with acute diarrheal
disorder had his initials embedded on the left forearm
[Figure 1]. It looked unusual since it appeared that
the initials were made of fibrous tissue. Initially, we
Figure 1: Hypertrophic scar in the shape of english alphabets
Indian Journal of Psychiatry 54(3), Jul-Sep 2012
Hamidreza Mahboobi1,2, Javad Golmirzaei3,
Hamzeh Seddigh3, Tahereh Khorgoei4
Department of Psychiatric Diseases, Student Research
1
Committee, 3Research Center for Behavioral and
NeuroSciences, 4Infectious and Tropical Disease Research
Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS),
Hormozgan, 2Department of Psychology, Payame Noor
University (PNU), Tehran, Iran
E‑mail: hamidrezamahboobi@yahoo.com
References
1. Andrade C. How to write a good abstract for a scientific paper or conference
presentation. Indian J Psychiatry 2011;53:172‑5.
2. Mahboobi H, Shahrzad M, Seddigh H, Hamedi Y, Sharma A, Khorgoei T,
et al. Designing a research mentorship program (RMP) to enhance
research productivity at Ebne‑Sina Psychiatric hospital. Australasian
Medical Journal 2010;1:180‑2.
3. Mahboobi H, Sharma A, Khorgoei T, Jahanshahi K, Cottrell E. Evidence‑Based
Medicine for Medical Students. Australasian Medical Journal 2010;1:190‑3.
Access this article online
Quick Response Code
Website:
www.indianjpsychiatry.org
DOI:
10.4103/0019-5545.102459
thought it to be made by a heated alphabetical iron cast.
But questioning revealed otherwise. He narrated the
history as:
“I wished to have my initials over the left forearm in a way
that it can be never removed. Since, the age of 12 years
I made repetitive cuts in the shape of my initials over my
forearm with a shaving razor blade. Once it began to heal
I will repeat the cuts over the newly formed scar. The cuts
were repeated at least for 10 occasions. After 5 years,
I had these initials which will probably live with me for
ever!”
The initials were a alphabetical hypertrophic scar. The
white fibrous tissue was not extending beyond the margins
of the scar. He had no pain over the scar. Clinical psychiatry
evaluation showed no evidence of significant psychological
illness.
Deliberate self‑harm is common among adolescents.[1]
Self‑harm is often nonfatal and carries with it a wide spectrum
of reasons. This case where the self‑harm was of artistic
intention is interesting.
295
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