Psychology

In October 2010 as part of a research project on The Experience of Gendered Violence: Developing Psychobiographies, we travelled to Mehandipur, Rajasthan which houses the Balaji Mandir. It is believed that the deity in this temple has divine power to cure a person possessed with evil spirits. The behaviors of the afflicted (demographically around 90 percent of the afflicted were women, while on the whole there were more men present at the different shrines in Mehandipur) are referred to by different words in different parts of India – in the Balaji Mandir, Rajasthan it is called peshi. This word cannot be translated into English but could be provisionally understood as ‘trance’ (rather than hysteria or possession, which have been the usual understandings). In Mehandipur, the treatment of peshi is carried out through the divine intervention of the deities and the saints through the mediumship of priests and mystics, usually accompanied by the full-hearted participation of the family of the possessed/trance person as well as all those who gather to witness and participate in the event that demonstrates the power of the process that is called sankat-mochan.

In the context of this experience, we had to ask ourselves:
(1) Why are these women here? Why are there so many women? What explains their rather stereotypical response to suffering? What is the ‘originology’ and phenomenology of their suffering? 
(2) Is this temple a refuge and space offered for redressal of the suffering of women that does not find expression in the environs of home, community and the mental health institution? Given the critiques of the psychiatric asylum, this space could be seen as a space outside or beyond the asylum, where women instead find asylum?
(3) Or is this also a site of violence that we need to address, wherein a culture of violence is normalized; so normalized that there is no appreciation of violence?

Thus, is the site of faith healing the ‘finding asylum’ of woman (rendered homeless in a psychic sense)? One would be tempted to see faith healing as a culturally available site of finding asylum for women. However, the sense of being put into an asylum (even without the insurmountable walls of asylum imagery) haunts us in our experience of Mehendipur. In juxtaposing the spatial dispositions of the temple and the asylum and looking closely at the players that operate within these, we try to make sense of the processes that shape the distinction between the cultural/religious/non-modern and the scientific/clinical/modern. Nonetheless, we remain haunted by the possibility of premises the two share, a sense that can well shake our faith in faith healing as the Cultural Other of the European asylum, especially when looked at from the perspective of gendered violence.

Critical psychology, born out of the womb of the west, is an internal critique of the west's intimate principles. Critical psychology, drawing upon a critical version of psychoanalysis and an equally critical version of discourse analysis – drawing
upon a re-reading of both Sigmund Freud and Michel Foucault – and perhaps setting to dialogue in the process the dissenting children of the west – has tried to carve out a space for a re-formed (not merely reformed) psychology in the west. What can India offer to this field? One, Indian can offer ‘Savage Freud’
Girindrasekhar Bose's re-reading of one of the resources of critical psychology: psychoanalysis. Will this add value to the critique that critical psychology embodies? Perhaps. One will however have to demonstrate how and where it adds value. Two, India can also offer its own critical reading (a critical reading premised on cultural difference) of the qualitative methodology – once again considered a vital resource for critical psychology – given the obsession of the mainstream with quantitative psychology. Three, India can offer to the paid/contractual clinical setting (paradigmatically standing for the professional method in the west, which critical psychology now wishes to re-form) the wholly/holy Other, provisionally termed ‘faith healing’. What does faith healing do to the clinical setting that critical psychology wishes to re-form? How are relationships of suffering-healing organized in faith driven settings? What clues do they offer to a modern culture that now sees the clinic as the only site of cure, and that has stripped itself of all other resources and imaginations of healing? In this paper, we would also like to suggest that the tradition of critical psychology in India cannot just rely on a critique of psychiatry or mainstream psychology. It has to be, simultaneously, a critique of (Brown) Orientalism (see Chaudhury, 1994). Critical psychology in India is thus premised on a dual
critique.  It is critique of both the hegemonic Occident and the Occident’s hegemonic description of the Orient. It is critique of both the West’s hegemonic principles and principles (emanating from either the West or from the East) that hegemonize the East."""

The relation between mental states and brain states has long intrigued and even confused scientists and philosophers. With new scientific and technological advances, the gap between the two is finding moments of intersections. Nonetheless there are several paradoxical findings, which this module will argue also provides us the next moment in this line of inquiry. This module will explore the puzzles confronting us today in artificial intelligence, dreams as well as musical and aesthetic appreciation as requiring an integrated framework.

Based on the story of Manisha, a homeless mentally-ill woman who met with an untimely end in a mental hospital, this article raises questions about the cultural practices of the scientific-medical paradigm, the state legal system, and society that allows a vulnerable woman to vanish without a trace. It ponders the ways in which we can talk about the cultures of violence even in apparently benevolent institutions, and how science and the law are complicit in the violence that takes place in the name of helping the helpless.

Religion and Psychoanalysis in India questions the assumptions of an established scientific, evidence-based global mental health paradigm by examining the practices of faith-based healing. It proposes that human beings demonstrate a dual loyalty: to science as faith and faith as science, both of which get reconfigured in the process. In this particular context, science and faith are deployed in ways that are not only different but at times contrary to mainstream discourses of science and religion, and faith healing becomes a point where these two discourses collide head-on in negotiating cultural values and practices. The book addresses key questions, such as:

What is the value of 'faith healing' in understanding distress and treatment in different cultural contexts?
What is a critical psychological perspective on faith and religious systems?
What challenges do alternative religious practices pose to critical psychology?
How should we re-imagine clinical work in a context marked by science and religion?

Situated between 'West' and 'East', between the global mental health movement and local faith-based practices in India, the book addresses a wide audience that includes students and researchers in psychology, cultural and medical anthropology, the sociology of religion, cultural theory, postcolonial theory, and the sociology of science. It will also appeal to policy-makers and practitioners interested in the work of NGOs and the legal frameworks driving mental health movements in India.

Non-legal mechanisms of redressal for responding to violence are important resources for survivors of violence. These are not only the first point of contact for the majority of survivors, but are important sources of strength and understanding in what is often a long process in achieving justice. Women or girls may call upon family members or friends to discuss the problem, or look for guidance from their community or religious leaders to think about what to do next. They may rely on personal coping mechanisms to deal with difficult situations, or look to organizations and groups that work with issues dealing with the specific problems that are affecting them, such as women’s organizations or NGOs. Women and girls with disabilities may seek professional services with counsellors, therapists, and doctors to address trauma, injuries or illness resulting from their experiences of violence.

This module of the Legal Literacy Manual will help the reader  understand:
1. Non-legal modes of responding to violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities; 
2. Recognize the importance of non-legal modes of responding to violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities; 
3. Know when the non-legal modes of responding to violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities should be used; 
4. Elaborate on the kinds of non-legal modes of redressal of violence against women and girls with physical disabilities.

The Legal Literacy Manual is an outcome of a Centre for Women’s Development Studies (CWDS) Project titled ‘Violence against Women and Girls with Physical Disabilities in India: Understanding the Issues and Promoting Legal Empowerment’. This research-cum-advocacy initiative was supported by a two-year grant (2017-2019) from the Women’s Fund Asia (WFA) formerly South Asia Women’s Fund (SAWF). It is perhaps the first such context-specific training tool designed for girls and women with physical disabilities in India. Professor Renu Addlakha conceptualized the entire endeavor and was also the Project Director.

Critical psychology, born out of the womb of the west, is an internal critique of the west's intimate principles. Critical psychology, drawing upon a critical version of psychoanalysis and an equally critical version of discourse analysis and setting to dialogue in the process the dissenting children of the west, has tried to carve out a space for a reformed (not merely reformed) psychology in the west. What can India offer to this field? One, India can offer 'Savage Freud' Girindrasekhar Bose's re-reading of one of the resources of critical psychology: psychoanalysis. Will this add value to the 'critique' that critical psychology embodies? Perhaps; but we will also have to demonstrate how and where it adds value. Two, India can also offer its own critical reading (a critical reading premised on 'cultural difference') of qualitative methodologyonce again considered a vital resource for critical psychologygiven the obsession of the mainstream with quantitative psychology. Three, India can offer to the somewhat sedate and contractual clinical setting of the west (paradigmatically standing for the 'professional method' that critical psychology now wishes to reform) the wholly/holy Other-provisionally termed 'faith healing'. What does faith healing do to the clinical setting? How are relationships of suffering-healing organized in faith driven settings? What clues do they offer to a modern culture that now sees the clinic as the only site of cure, and that has stripped itself of all other resources and imaginations of healing? In this paper, we would also like to suggest that the tradition of critical psychology in India cannot just rely on a critique of psychiatry or mainstream psychology. It has to be, simultaneously, a critique of Orientalism. Critical psychology in India is thus premised on a dual critique. It is critique of both the hegemonic Occident and the Occident's hegemonic description of the Orient. It is critique of both the West's hegemonic principles and principles (emanating from either the West or from the East) that hegemonize the East.

The thesis is an inquiry into the meaning and significance of faith healing at the 500 year old Mira Datar Dargah in the village of Unava in Gujarat, India. The Mira Datar Dargah was selected as the site of this study not only for its historical and cultural relevance, but also due to the government-supported mental health programme attached to it. This study asks questions related to the site of faith healing (shrine of Mira Datar in Unava), the subject (sawwali or devotee, caught between the shrine and the clinic), and the ghost (sign of something missing in accounts of subjectivity). Based on a qualitative paradigm and a postcolonial perspective, this study uses a modular approach to the research by looking at different aspects of the research as modules that benefit from different methodological input.
This thesis is organized in two sections. Section I – Sitation looks at how the site becomes an object of study. Through a historical treatment of the Muslim shrine as a syncretic space, a reflexive analysis of how the researcher comes to a cultural site that has become interpellated by the Global Mental Health movement, and a geographical exploration of the social space around the dargah within the larger ambit of the village through the analysis of sixteen maps generated in this study. Based on the organization of space around the shrine, this section theorizes caste as the master signifier in Indian society, and builds toward an analysis of boundaries of inclusion and exclusion. Section II – Subjectivation takes a narrative approach to the subject of faith healing situated between discourses of faith and science. With the generation of six narratives by sawwalis, this section locates the shuffling symptom demonstrated by families at the shrine as having clinical significance for studies on faith healing. The narratives also depict the challenges research participants faced in speaking about their affliction, the nature and even the name of it, which is illustrative of the way ghosts escape from narratives by research subjects, which leads this section to propose the Ghost as method for critical research.

In the annals of India’s history, a monumental uprising unfolded in 2020, echoing the resilience and coming together of large sections of its agrarian base. Instigated by the contentious farm laws of 2020, the Farmers’ Movement burgeoned into a year-long saga of protest and perseverance, ending only in December 2021 after the passing of the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 by the Indian Parliament. From the initial demand for law repeal to the multifaceted growth of the movement, the book traces the journey of the Farmers’ Movement, as each essay dissects the socio-political dynamics, cultural nuances, and mass solidarity that underpinned the protests, including focused analyses from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and the Sikh diaspora in the United Kingdom. This anthology chronicles the ebb and flow of a nation’s spirit, encapsulating the symbiotic relationship between theory and praxis, between change and continuity. It serves as a testament to the power of collective resistance and a roadmap for future struggles, ensuring that the legacy of the Farmers’ Movementendures beyond the pages of history.

This volume is an interdisciplinary project and will be of interest to scholars from diverse fields such as economics, sociology, public policy, political science, history, political geography, gender studies, cultural studies, international studies, architecture, media studies, psychology, and ethnomusicology.

IntroductionWith the global crisis of COVID-19 continuing, Indian mothers have not received adequate attention with respect to their challenges and mothering experiences. The current study explored mindful parenting practices in a cohort of Indian mothers of children aged 10 years and below that emerged in response to the challenges posed by COVID-19.MethodsIn-depth virtual interviews were conducted with 31 urban Indian mothers to explore their lived experiences of mothering during the global crisis and their engagements with mindful parenting practices. The data were thematically analyzed.Results and DiscussionThe study identified two overarching themes and nine subthemes. The first theme, pandemic-induced stress, included the sub-themes of increased workload, poor support system, lack of time for self, and emotional and physical distress. The second theme of mindful parenting included the sub-themes of awareness as a mother and around the child, acceptance toward self and the chil...