Giving a patient hearing to around 40 life stories a day, some rather depressing, is routine for psychiatrist Dr Ranjiv Mahajan. His job becomes all the more challenging as he has to give a new direction to all these stories, prescribe ‘a new chapter’ and motivate people to turn over a new leaf after the end of a not-so-happy episode in their lives.

Over the last 20 years, Dr Mahajan who is a professor of psychiatry and the Head of the department at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, has followed a routine of providing consultation to patients with mental disorders.

There is one thing, however, that still annoys him. “Why is it that a patient seeks medical help only when the problem becomes severe?” he asks.

“There is a stigma attached to mental problems. Patients and their families are afraid to visit a psychiatrist fearing what the neighbours or relatives would think if they get to know. Most patients with mental disorders — whether its depression or other serious illnesses — approach a doctor only after it starts getting out of hand,” the doctor said.

“ WHO raised this concern in 2005 with the slogan, ‘Stop exclusion, dare to care’. When a person suffers from a disease, the first thing a doctor wants to know is that for how long the symptoms have existed. When it comes to mental problems, on most occasions, a patient’s reply is, ‘It’s been over a year, I guess. Maybe two. Or to be precise, it’s been about three years’. And we know that the damage has been done,” Mahajan explains, adding that there is a lack of awareness among people about getting the right treatment at the right time.

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