Psychiatry is one of the youngest specialties of medicine, dating back only about 200 years. Till then, altered behavioural, emotional and personality functionings were attributed to supernatural powers, like evil spirit, ghosts, black magic, curse, etc., a phenomenon still prevalent in many rural settings in India and other developing countries too.
The reason for addressing this question is because of the prevailing stigmatizing belief that persons with mental health issues are somehow inferior. While this belief is generally acknowledged as not true, at least in educated circles, the majority of people in the society are still not confident about talking about their mental health issues. They want to keep it as ‘personal’ and try to solve it all by themselves, even without the help and support of their dear and near ones, leave alone the professional help.
