If psychological counselling is an indicator of rising affluence, then Indian Finance Minister Manmohan Singh has every reason to feel satisfied. For, the cities of India are seeing a spurt in the demand for psychiatric help by men and women on the fast track.
Professional counselling is no longer seen as the recourse of crazies, and patients are walking in through the doors of clinics with the kinds of stress-related problems that their ancestors never had to face. "People no longer feel that it is only the ´mad´ who need to go see a counsellor," says Dr Rajesh Parikh, a neuro-psychiatrist with the prestigious Jaslok Hospital in Bombay.
One of the many changes that the Nervous Nineties have brought with them is the breakup of joint-families. The dynamics of family-living having undergone a complete transformation for millions, and the traditional ´buffers´ in the form of live-in parents and relatives are being replaced by artificial support systems, such as maids and creches. As adult children spin off to lead independent lives and, subsequently, to raise nuclear families, a host of psycho-social tensions arise.
The new problems have their origins primarily in the sudden transition, and the inability to meet demands and expectations. For a city-based couple trying to juggle work, children and housekeeping, while also maintaining a social life, the management of it all can be quite unnerving. For many, it leads to mental breakdown.