Mental health

By Dr. Soumitra Basu — Apr 24, 2024

The physical mind is that part of the mind enmeshed in sensory schemata and is thus at the lowest end of the mind-range. It goes on ruminating habitual and trivial thoughts that are usually related to life’s ordinary preoccupations. Ordinarily, we are not always thinking of great intellectual stuff or creative things but dealing with everyday matter. We think whether we have locked the door properly or whether we have not forgotten to switch off the cooking gas cylinder connection or whether our daughter has returned from school safely. These are trivial, commonplace thoughts that go on revolving and ruminating at the lowest range of the mind — the physical mind. A great exaggeration of these ruminating stuff leads to the development of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

By Christian A. Latino — Jan 15, 2024

American psychology currently employs a psychobiological perspective in its study of the human psyche and tends to conduct its research using objective empirical methods based on the natural world. This article situates the American psychobiological perspective in Sri Aurobindo’s theory of social development, which posits that societal growth is evolutionary. American psychology’s beginnings in Europe occurred in an era where the ecclesiastical hierarchy ruled through dogma, which may have contributed to the field’s modern-day dependence on objective empiricism as a means to challenge abuses of authority. According to Sri Aurobindo’s theory, a dependence on objective empirical methods is typical prior to the utilisation of more advanced subjective empirical methods. The increasing interest in subjective empirical methods (e.g. mindfulness) in American psychology may indicate the coming of a subjective age in the science. This age may allow for new discoveries in psychology that may provide resolutions for modern-day ills.

By Dr. Soumitra Basu — Oct 15, 2022

CWSA, Volume 21Consciousness Based Psychology: Sri Aurobindo’s Vision of Yoga, Health and Transpersonal Growth

By The Mother — Oct 15, 2021

Of all lines of education, mental education is the most widely known and practised, yet except in a few rare cases there are gaps which make it something very incomplete and in the end quite insufficient.

By Dr. Soumitra Basu — Apr 24, 2021

One of the greatest concerns in psychiatry is the issue of delusional thinking that underlies the phenomenon of psychotic illness. A delusion is considered to be a firm, fixed, false idea that cannot be corrected by reasoning and presentation of facts to the contrary and that is out of tune with the subject’s socio-cultural and educational background. There might be weird delusions with homicidal intent which can become difficult to deal with, as they defy all logic and are not amenable to counselling. Such delusions constitute a threat to society and have to be professionally dealt with. In extreme cases, such subjects have to be isolated from the rest of the community till he or she recovers meaningful insights.