Counseling centers in colleges in India

The term counseling is often very confusing. It majorly is a guidance to cope up with a situation or to make choices, an advice system which could help you make decisions or take a certain course of action. So I was reading in a local newspaper about the attempts to set up counseling centers, in Indian universities.According the universities in India, the whole point of doing this is the typical reason for helping out college students deal with their transition from high school to college and to help them deal with various kinds of stresses that they could face.

I completely agree with setting up counseling centers in universities. But in a country like India, counseling, depression, therapy and even psychology are all seen more as a social stigma than as something helpful. That said, anyone going for therapy or taking something as much as an anti depressant is looked upon with eyes of pity, or eyes of curiosity about their inability to handle their problems. As long as there is going to be this sort of social stigma, chances of children coming forward with their problems to the counselors are going to be really sleek. Several people cope with their issues and come out strong after struggles, but the whole awareness of setting up counseling centers has come about after college students have committed suicides.

Let me give a simple example. Again, this is purely based on my understanding. When Indian parents do eventually take a step of sending their kid to a shrink, they have all sorts of anxieties and apprehensions. Firstly they want an objective answer as to how long a therapy would continue. They are of the constant fear that a simple counseling and therapy could become a big problem in the future. Part of the fear is about any occurrence of future psychological issues, but the bigger part of the fear is concerned with the social stamping their kid might get on them, which could hinder relationships like marriages etc in the future. Note that there is a difference between a psychological fear and a social fear here.

All this said, setting up of counseling centers in Indian universities is definitely a positive step, but how effective it would be is still is big unanswered question. People need to be made aware that a therapy or medications for psychological disorders and several of the psychological disorders themselves are not really a social stigma, but are just like other genuine issues which could be solved. As long as psychological problems are seen as social disgrace, or as hardcore mental health issues, psychological treatments or counseling centers etc are going to be difficult to be made useful for people.

Celebrate Independence!

While today may just merely be a national holiday for some, for most Indians, today means a lot. This day marks the independence of our nation and the independence that we enjoy. While we keep taking from the nation, there is very little we give back to our nation. In all cases, I don't think it is fair on my part writing about giving back to the nation, because I am also one of those several irresponsible Indians who don't care much about giving back to the nation. But talking about independence, independence of nation was struggle by several freedom fighters and we succeeded. Meanwhile independence of our minds is still a constant struggle for most of us. We are bound by so many things in life. Take this for instance, I would like to study fine arts. But then the reason, I took up engineering and then Masters in Engineering Management and then the job with Deloitte was only because I wanted to make money and wanted to get myself a name in this so- called society. I was very well bound by my own thoughts and paradigms. So many us become lawyers, doctors because we either think that is the right thing to survive in this society, or because our parents wanted us to become lawyers. But few of us have independent thoughts and allow them their thoughts to remain so and follow their hearts and go on to do what they love to do in life. While I do understand that several of us are bound by situations like poverty, family issues etc where money is more important than our thoughts, but for all those people for whom it is possible to follow their hearts, independence of mind should be no struggle. While part of me feels I have taken the necessary steps towards following my heart by quitting my job and getting back to India, yet, I personally feel that I still have a long way to go and I would not forget the gratitude I should have for several good things in my life, including great parents and god of course because of whom, I can follow my heart and do things I love as opposed to doing things for society, for others etc. So many of us possess so many talents inside us and fail to nourish them because of a complacency within ourselves or because of the fear of being different or because of unforeseen circumstances. Parents and family play a major role in independence of our thoughts. For instance, several parents have paradigms that their kids' academic performance alone is an indicator of how good their kid is compared to other kids in the society and also feel it is an indicator of how good parents, they themselves are that they have provided great education to their kids. Some parents however instead of trying to find their own successes in their kids allow their kids to think independently and act accordingly. Independence definitely comes with responsibilities. Obviously if in the name of independent thoughts we know we are marching towards our own destruction, then there is no point in claiming any independence. So it is time to nourish, nurture and celebrate independence of both our nation and our minds.

A New Beginning!

I managed to reach India and quenched my sleep thirst too. After a long time, I was able to sit quietly and reflect upon how my life has been in the last couple of years and how I should I take it from here on. I had ample time back in the US too, to do this, but I could never even successfully attempt it, thanks to the million thoughts and voices that would flood my mind and make me lose it. Here in serenity, I was able to placidly think about what I am going to do in life going forward. While there is a lot of anxiety involved, this activity is definitely better than working in an office and feeling stuck and not being able to do anything about it. I was sitting and discussing my various thought out options with my mom today. I also looked for some volunteering opportunities so I could do some volunteer work to both feel good and also to while away some time with a sense of having done something worthwhile. While I have not yet completely decided what my future plans exactly are, yet, I am weighing my options carefully this time and I really want to do things which will make me happy and peaceful in the long run, unlike giving me a lot of money but stealing my peace of mind from me. That being said, I am off now to calculate my options for a new beginning.