Title - Shhh! Don't talk about Mental Health
Author - Arjun Gupta
Genre - Health,Living & Wellness/Psychology
Publisher - NotionPress
ISBN - 978-1-64546-971-1
Initially, when I picked this title, I thought it was a self-help book but then I realized, I was wrong. The contents may sound like one, but it isn't the case as the author himself admits it. He says that this is a Psychology Book and NOT a Self-Help book. There are very few books being published in this genre and to be frank, I had hardly heard or seen any in my long journey of book reviews. It is to be noted here that India is a home to book readers and book lovers and hence there is no surprise that we witness hundreds of launches each day. A book in this genre is a welcoming attempt.
Arjun Gupta, who is a mental health activist battled severe clinical depression between 2015 and 2017 and hence you can safely assume that he has the capability to write one on a sensitive subject like this.
The book also has couple of notable contributors namely Rajnandini Sarkar and Rohit Kumar.
This book is divided into 6 sections namely:
1. From Possessed to Depressed
2. Defining Mental Health
3. Understanding Mental Illness
4. For and against Mental Health Awareness
5. Stigma : A Silent Weapon
6. The Dull Golden Bird
Each and every chapter talks about various aspects related to Mental Health. If you are a student of Psychology, I am sure, this book will help you a lot as this has references from various books and authors who has the authority in this field.
Some of the lines that hit me hard and made me to make a note are given below:
a. Psychology isn't just about helping yourself or influencing others. It is much more than that.
b. Mental Illness were caused by biological illness rather than by spirits - Hippocrates(400 BCE).
c. During the Dark Ages from 500 to 1400 CE, people who were suffering from Mental related problems were chained, beaten and experimented on.
There are so many aspects to talk about. The book compared as to how this subject has evolved over a period of time and how the experiments and various theories had contributed towards changing the perception in the mind of the people.
I liked the way author has presented the facts and theories including his own definition with regards to Mental Health. I must say, it is one of the fittest as of today and I seriously hope WHO considers it because the one they use as of now is more than 2 decades old and it is high time that it gets changed....
This book is available on Amazon
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