WHOM TO CONSULT?

In a world that's finally learning to speak openly about mental health, one question remains deeply personal: who do you trust when your inner world begins to unravel?

- BY SANDHYA KRISHNAN

A friend of mine happened to visit Toni&Guy a few days back with her cousin. She saw Provoke Lifestyle magazine displayed there and was excited to show her cousin my article, her cousin glanced through and looked at my friend and asked, “Why is your friend writing about mental health?” Not quite able to follow my friend asked her cousin what was wrong and she replied “I mean, why is your friend who is a physiotherapist writing about mental health?”.

This is something that happens to me and psychotherapists like me all the time. People misread psychotherapy as physiotherapy. It happens with my LinkedIn page too, I get job offers for physiotherapist and at times doubts about muscle plasm. Sometimes people including me just put plain psychologist as designation instead of psychotherapist to avoid the confusion. In general, it’s just not the misreading but most people lack understanding as to which doctor to approach for which mental ailment.