Clinical Psychology

International Women’s Day #ChooseToChallenge Webinar – March 08, 2021

The Department of Clinical Psychology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, organized the ‘International Women’s Day #ChooseToChallenge Webinar’ on March 08, 2021. The webinar screened two award winning short films namely ‘Joya’ directed by Shaolin Shaon and’ Juice’ directed by Neeraj Ghaywan. The webinar was graced with 2 key speakers - Ms. Shaolin Shaon, Lecturer for Film and Television, at the Canadian University of Bangladesh and Dr. Vani Kesari, Director of the School of Legal Studies, at Cochin University of Science And Technology (CUSAT). The webinar was open to the public and was hosted as a live event on social media platforms. The audience were actively involved in the deliberations. The fruitful discussion highlighted the various legal aspects and laws related to women and also looked at the role of media in women empowerment

Safer Internet Day (February 11, 2020)

Department of Clinical Psychology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), organized an awareness program on healthy use of internet on safer internet day on 11th February 2020 to stress the need for caution and responsibility when using internet and social media.

Dr. Gitanjali Natarajan, Head of the Department, Clinical Psychology, gave the welcome address. Dr. (Col) Vishal Marwaha talked about his experience, dealing with undergraduate students and the onset of social media addiction and its impact on students’ academic performance. He likened the internet to a knife, which can be used to spread butter or to harm someone.

The assistant sub inspector for cyber cell, Kochi city police, Mr. Binoy Joseph gave an enlightening talk about the extent of cyber-crime. His presentation included valuable insights about how to stay safe on the internet, a reminder to parents to model good internet behaviour to their children, to stay updated on the latest security updates and the importance of securing medical records in a health care system like AIMS. Mr. Joseph also forewarned windows 7 systems to be the most vulnerable for future cyber-crime and encouraged everyone to update their system.

Mr. Najid Pasha gave an entertaining and engaging talk, about smart use of cyber space. Through many examples, Mr. Pasha gave practical tips to disengage from being too consumed by the internet. And his metaphor of seeing the internet as a city drove home the salience of the safety of children who use the internet.

Workshop on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Psychosis, Depression & Anxiety (January 10 – 11, 2020)

The 2-day workshop on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Psychosis, Depression & Anxiety was organised by the Department of Clinical Psychology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi on January 10-11, 2020. The workshop was conceptualised around September 2019 and the proposal was sent for CRE (Continuing Rehabilitation Education) approval. Information regarding the workshop was disseminated in early December and registration commenced. The workshop received a total of 43 registrations of which 41 were CRE participants.

Day 1 of the workshop focused on introducing Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) to the audience and providing an overview. Dr. Gitanjali Natarajan, Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology, AIMS initiated the first session and took up the huge responsibility of socializing the audience to the cognitive-behavioural approach. She also brought in snippets from the process-based approach, which is a relatively recent development in the epistemology of CBT. After the socialization, Ms. Sruthi Annie Vincent, Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Clinical Psychology, AIMS led the group in to the cognitive behavioural assessment approaches. She discussed the relevance of evaluations and how to obtain relevant information from the assessment phase of interventions.

After a short tea break, Dr. Gitanjali led the group into case conceptualization which is a very important technique in CBT. The conceptualization methods help us observe how thoughts, feelings, behaviour and physiological reactions are related to various negative automatic thoughts, intermediate beliefs and core beliefs, which are further influenced by our early experiences and our perspectives regarding them. With the conceptualisation in place, Ms. Lakshmi Saranya, Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, AIMS helped to conceptualise depression, a common mental health concern in cognitive behavioural terms and discussed intervention strategies like behavioural activation that may be utilised for effective treatment.

The post-lunch session focused on how to apply various cognitive techniques like guided discovery, visualisation, distancing, cognitive continuum which are effectively used in CBT. These techniques were introduced and detailed by Dr. Dhanya Chandran, Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, AIMS; some techniques were introduced as activities for the audience while some were demonstrated as role play along with Dr. Gitanjali.

On Day 2, the first half of the workshop focussed on applying CBT to various disorders in the anxiety spectrum. Mr. Sreehari, Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, AIMS initiated the group into using CBT for Generalised Anxiety Disorders after which Ms. Sruthi continued into using CBT strategies for Panic Disorder. Various techniques like behavioural experiments, exposure, problem-solving and relaxation were discussed by both of them and the group came up with interesting queries that generated much deliberation. After the tea break, Ms. Lakshmi guided the group into using CBT for Social Anxiety Disorders with special focus on techniques for enhancing interpersonal effectiveness. Ms. Vidya Menon, Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Clinical Psychology, AIMS discussed CBT techniques for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, especially strategies like cognitive defusion, mindfulness and acceptance that are increasingly being found effective. Mr. Sreehari further elaborated on reattribution strategies and their application in Somatization Disorder. In the afternoon following lunch, Dr. Devvarta Kumar, Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore kept the audience charged with his thought-provoking session on CBT for Delusions.

World Mental Health Day 2019 Observed

The Department of Clinical Psychology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences observed World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2019. In connection to the event, the department organised a poster competition and exhibition. The theme for this year is ‘Suicide Prevention’ with the aim of

• Improve awareness of the significance of suicide as a global public health problem
• Improve knowledge of what can be done to prevent suicide
• Reduce the stigma associated with suicide
• Let people who are struggling know that they are not alone

The poster exhibition was on key themes on suicide prevention, risks and protective factors, help seeking and mental health-based services available in the community, contributed by students from campus and outside spreading the message of mental health and well-being. Mr. Madhu Bhaskaran, renowned motivational speaker, was the guest of honour. The MPhil Clinical Psychology trainees performed a mime in connection to the theme.

National Conference on Promotion of School Mental Health Programme – July 12 – 14, 2019

The Department of Clinical Psychology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, organized a three-day National Conference on “Promotion of School Mental Health Programme” during July 12 - 14, 2019 on the theme - “Let’s come together to ensure that School Mental Health programme reaches every child; a promise for better tomorrow!”

Conference Goals

The school is an ideal place to promote mental health of children and adolescents, providing an opportunity for their cognitive, emotional, social and behavioural development. Currently, school-going children across the country face wide range of problems such as:

• Emotional problems related to depression, anxiety, obsessive & compulsive behaviours, perfectionism, anger etc
• Behavioural problems like school refusal, disruptive behaviour, eating and sleeping problems, risk taking behaviours etc
• Neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, Asperger’s syndrome, ADHD etc
• Addictive behaviours like mobile phone addiction, gaming, substance use etc
• Interpersonal problems among children, peers, parents, teachers etc

In the current scenario, the need of the hour is having trained school mental health professionals capable of understanding the growing child with multiple issues, and allowing him to develop positive mental health. Hence the programme consisted of multidisciplinary team of eminent professionals, sharing a common platform, to create a new paradigm in the area of school mental health.

Topics addressed

• School Mental Health Programme and Policies
• School Psychology
• Psychopathology
• Risk Taking, Addictive and Deliberate Self Harm Behaviour
• Effective Parenting
• Life Skills Development
• Disability & Inclusive Learning
• Assessment & Guidelines
• Psychotherapy & Interventions
• Technology and Cyber World

Overall, the conference aimed to critically analyse the current status of school mental health programme and explore barriers to its effective implementation, and provide impetus to crystallizing and consolidating the school mental health programme.