Intentar ORO - Gratis
Asylum
Outlook
|August 21, 2025
Although the how, where and when to treat mental illness are now better understood in India, the 'why' continues to be obscure
IN a damning criticism of the colonial government, a prominent psychiatrist pointed out in 1937 that “it would be difficult for the most jingoistic to affirm that, in the matter of provision for mental disorder in India, in India, the British ‘bearing of the white man’s burden’ has been quite adequate.” But have we, as an independent nation, done a better job?
The mentally ill have always been with us; and every known historical account recounts those who behaved in a mad manner. For millennia, the ‘why’ of ‘why do people go mad’ was debated, and in the absence of any other obvious observable evidence, it was assumed that it was the work of the Devil, or the consequence of moral or religious transgression. All societies and religions assumed that only these could cause a fall from grace, which altered a person in thought and deed to the extent that they could be considered beyond the pale, devoid of humanness, and thus lose their place in society.
It was only a few hundred years ago—prompted by the dramatic change in our thinking about the natural world—that sickness and disease began to be understood as a natural phenomenon. The laws of physics, chemistry and biology, and the instruments that were invented (thermometer, microscope, stethoscope, etc.) could help record the temperature of the body, measure gases in respired air, and even detect bacteria in pus. The mythical fear of illness vanished, and it simply became a problem to be solved. The appearance of doctors, who practised this new natural science in hospitals, where the sick could be treated, was thus a recent modern invention.
Esta historia es de la edición August 21, 2025 de Outlook.
Suscríbete a Magzter GOLD para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9000 revistas y periódicos.
¿Ya eres suscriptor? Iniciar sesión
MÁS HISTORIAS DE Outlook
Outlook
The Big Blind Spot
Caste boundaries still shape social relations in Tamil Nadu-a state long rooted in self-respect politics
8 mins
December 11, 2025
Outlook
Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana
Dharmendra's tenderness revealed itself without any threats to his masculinity. He adapted himself throughout his 65-year-long career as both a product and creature of the times he lived through
5 mins
December 11, 2025
Outlook
Fairytale of a Fallow Land
Hope Bihar can once again be that impossibly noisy village in Phanishwar Nath Renu's Parti Parikatha-divided, yes, but still capable of insisting that rights are not favours and development is more than a slogan shouted from a stage
14 mins
December 11, 2025
Outlook
The Lesser Daughters of the Goddess
The Dravidian movement waged an ideological war against the devadasi system. As former devadasis lead a new wave of resistance, the practice is quietly sustained by caste, poverty, superstition and inherited ritual
2 mins
December 11, 2025
Outlook
The Meaning of Mariadhai
After a hundred years, what has happened to the idea of self-respect in contemporary Tamil society?
5 mins
December 11, 2025
Outlook
When the State is the Killer
The war on drugs continues to be a war on the poor
5 mins
December 11, 2025
Outlook
We Are Intellectuals
A senior law officer argued in the Supreme Court that \"intellectuals\" could be more dangerous than \"ground-level terrorists\"
5 mins
December 11, 2025
Outlook
An Equal Stage
The Dravidian Movement used novels, plays, films and even politics to spread its ideology
12 mins
December 11, 2025
Outlook
The Dignity in Self-Respect
How Periyar and the Self-Respect Movement took shape in Tamil Nadu and why the state has done better than the rest of the country on many social, civil and public parameters
5 mins
December 11, 2025
Outlook
When Sukumaar Met Elakkiya
Self-respect marriage remains a force of socio-political change even a century later
7 mins
December 11, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size
