Rely less on drugs and more on therapy: French psychoanalysts

New Delhi, Mar 11 (UNI) French psychoanalysists are of the view that mental health in India is being treated more by medicine than by therapy.

''Rely less on drugs and more on therapy,'' is the message of Dr Patrick Bantman, Doctor Chief of Psychiatric Hospitals at Esquirol Paris Hospital.

But he is against violence being used as a therapy for the treatment of mentally ill at Balaji Temple in Rajasthan.

''Violence should never be used as a treatment,'' Dr Bantman, Vice-President of the Association Psychiatrists of the World, told reporters here recently.

His views were echoed by psychiatrist Acques Vignes who has been living in India for the past 20 years.

They were among the French psychiatrists, psychotherapists and psychoanalysists who were in the capital to exchange knowledge on mental health with their Indian counterparts, the first ever meeting of its kind.

They participated in the seminars on 'Psychic Life between Belief and Knowledge.' 'Dreams, Mythologies and Fables', ' Yoga and Mental Health. and 'Traumatism, Violence and Society: Place in the Psychic World?' The meeting offered a window to the better understanding of the issues of belief and knowledge through the means of psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

The French group threw light on the impact of violence and modernity on Indian families and stressed on the mixture of culture, origin and mental health under one umbrella.

The specialists maintained that both India and France were constantly coping with evils of high growth.

Therefore, there was a need for regular communication between doctors from the two countries to discuss ways of leading a healthy and stress-free life.

UNI