presidential address
Preserve and strengthen family to promote mental health
Dr. Ajit Avasthi
Professor,
Department of Psychiatry,
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
Unlike the west, in India, family is the key
resource in the care of patients with mental illness.
Families assume the role of primary caregivers for
two reasons. First, it is because of the Indian tradition
of interdependence and concern for near and dear
ones in adversities. Due to this most Indian families
prefer to be meaningfully involved in all aspects of
care of their relatives despite it being time-consum-
ing. Second, there is a paucity of trained mental health
professionals required to cater to the vast majority of
the population; hence, the clinicians depend on the
family. Thus, having an adequate family support is
the need of the patient, clinician and the health care
administrators.
The term family has its root in the Latin word
'familia' that denotes a household establishment, akin
to 'famulus' which denoted a servant that came from
that household establishment. In the ancient Roman
law, the word denoted the group of producers, slaves
and other servants as well as members connected
by common descent or marriage. Family as we un-
derstand today has been defined in the Oxford dictio-
nary as (i) The body of persons who live in one house
or under one head, including parents, children, ser-
vants etc, (ii) The group consisting of parents and
their children, whether living together or not; in wider
sense, all those who are nearly connected by blood
or affinity (iii) A person's children reared collectively
(iv) Those descended, or claiming descent from a
common ancestor. From the point of view of psychia-
try, family denotes a group of individuals who live to-
gether during important phases of their life time and
are bound to each other by biological and /or social,
psychological relationship. It is a group defined by a
sexual relationship sufficiently precise and enduring
to provide for the procreation and upbringing of
children.[1]
When we look at the family as a unit, following
features are common across the globe: it is univer-
sal, permanent, nucleus of all social relationships, has
an emotional basis, has a formative influence over its
members, teaches its members as to what is their
social responsibility and the necessity for coopera-
tion and follows a social regulation.
[2]
Read more
|