Rediscovering Ivan Pavlov
Daniel Todes’s massive tome on physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), the man who, our textbooks tell us, trained dogs to salivate to a bell, transformed almost…
Need solutions? Start Playing Seriously
The hand is my feeler with which I reach through isolation and darkness and seize every pleasure, every activity that my fingers encounter. With the…
The art of disagreement
“Everybody gave parties. And there was a lot of drinking. Some visiting literary celebrity would show up, Partisan Review would make a party or I…
Is Gifting Therapy to Someone You Love Helpful or Insulting?
“He is my best friend, a resilient chap – we have known each other since we were in pre-school. The pandemic at first took a…
The Power of Imagery In Our Lives
In Bill Watterson’s comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” Calvin is a 6-year old child whose blithe spirit in the face of overwhelming reality helped many…
Self-care Exercises That Help Me Manage Stress and Pain
Virginia Woolf said of pain, “English, which can express the thoughts of Hamlet and the tragedy of Lear, has no words for the shiver and…
The Ex-factor
Oscar Wilde was twenty years younger than the great artist James Whistler with whom Wilde was awed. Both travelled in the same aristocratic circles and…
What Olympians Can Teach Us About Resilience and Mental Health Let us not forget the person behind the performer.
Arnold Guttman was thirteen years old when his father drowned in the Danube River. From that time the heartbroken Arnold swore to himself that one…
What is an Emotion? And five ways to regulate them
An essay in my 6th grade Hindi textbook was titled “Shok Sabha” and narrated the scene during a Hindu bereavement ritual. In it was described the life of…
Ring Around the Rosie Meaning-making for children in a global pandemic
The British Version Ring-a-ring o’roses, A pocketful of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down. The Indian version Ringa Ringa roses, pocketful of posies, husha…
Mental Health and Sportspersons
“Pressure? There is no pressure in Test cricket. Real pressure is when you are flying a Mosquito with a Messerschmitt up your ar*e” said Keith…
Of Aha Moments and Enlightenment
In 2009 the insurance company “Mutual” of Omaha claimed to be the “official sponsor of the aha moment” and applied to trademark the phrase. Oprah…
Emotional Wealth in Times of Economic Depression
To flourish is an act and not a state. This act is choice-worthy in its own right (Aristotle). This means that flourishing is not exclusively…
Domestic Violence: Safety Plans
Domestic violence is seldom a one-off incident. Rather, It is a pattern that repeats itself. If you or someone you know suffers from intimate terrorism…
Coping with the Death of a Loved One
We grieve for those whom you were attached to. Where there was deep love, you will feel deep sorrow. There will be a profound awareness…
Sleep and the Noisy Brain
The moment I lie down, it is as if the chamber of secrets in my brain gets an invitation to open up – darkness, doom,…
Andaz Apna Apna (To Each His Own)
Female clients in psychotherapy have shared with me these insecurities related to sex: “I’ve never had an orgasm. Am I normal?”“I seldom have orgasms during…
Love: It’s Rocket Science
Love and marriage, love and marriageGo together like a horse and carriageDad was told by motherYou can’t have one, you can´t have noneYou can’t have…
Wreck-It Ralph
“Never trust spiritual leader who cannot dance.” – Mr. Miyagi, The karate kid (1984) On making mistakes At a very young age we are instructed…
The Big Picture: Understanding Dyslexia
Percy Jackson: “A half-blood of the eldest dogs…”Annabeth : “Er, Percy? That’s gods, not dogs”– Rick Riordan in The Lightning Thief When our dear son…
For the Love of Math, 2
According to a popular 2017 review by famous researchers Robert Siegler and David Braithwaite there are certain deep-rooted and fundamental cultural differences and curricular exigencies…
For the Love of Math, 1
Srinivasa Ramanujan via Wikipedia Commons My father, a south-Indian from a traditional Coimbatore home, was passionate about numbers and my childhood was spent listening to…
Burn After Reading
“Neither of them can stand the person they’re married to. … Can’t stand them.” She looked at Myrtle and then at Tom. “What I say is,…
Despicable Me
I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight.”– Andrea, The Devil Wears Prada Are women becoming thinner or being made to feel fatter?…
Prozac Nation
For that was the terrible power of the dementors: to force their victims to relive the worst memories of their lives, and drown, powerless, in…
Crime and Punishment
“The genetics load the gun, personality and psychology aim it, and experiences pull the trigger, typically.”– Jim Clemente (FBI profiler) said of the 2017 Las…
Father of the Bride
“Silly Caucasian girl likes to play with Samurai swords”– O-Ren Ishii, from Kill Bill I So what if N hit T last week? She must’ve…
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
[to Simon Bishop] “Nelly, you’re a disgrace to depression.” – Melvin Udall, As Good As it Gets “The only memory of my father I have…
Sex and the City
Physics is like sex: Sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it. — Richard Feynman “I have a 2…
