Clinical Psychology

Emotional Balance

Dr. Kavitha Praveen

Balancing your emotions and reasoning (logic) are like two sides of the same coin. Emotions whether positive (happiness, relaxed) or negative (anger, redness, fear, tension) makes one stirred up or shakes one’s whole being till you express them in some form. Similarly, logic, reasoning or practical problem solving is equally important to handle daily short term & also future long term problems. Both emotions and reasoning have to be balanced.

If one is too emotional, then one might not be rational and vice versa. It is always better to be practical but one should also be able to connect emotionally. The so called emotionally balanced person can live life to the fullest than the extremes of too emotional or too rational or logical people. Too emotional or too logical may disturb one’s smooth sailing.

DESIRING HAPPINESS

Dr. Kavitha Praveen

We all desire happiness. Some by gaining material possessions, others by socializing, some by doing activities alone. However, over a period of time all these change, lose meaning and search for happiness starts again. Basis for happiness is not collecting baggages (material or emotional). Then what gives us happiness? It varies with each person but we all in common desire happiness.

To achieve happiness one needs to be in constant search by self-enquiry & facing life as it unfolds, be willing to change & be open to recieve unexpected life happenings on this journey. Then happiness discovers you or rather you discuss happiness.

Sensitizing on Possible Psychological Interventions for Factors Leading to Low Academic Performance in Children- A workshop

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A workshop conducted for parents, school teachers and school counselors on June 29, 2018 at Manasvin’s Center for Marital & Family Therapy

Building Support Systems for Family Members of Persons with Depression-Workshop

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A Video of a workshop conducted by Dr Kavitha on May 31, 2018. The Workshop focused on encouraging family members of persons with depression to understand more about the condition, build support systems and ensure caretakers do not neglect their own health.

SENSORY OVERLOADING AND IT’S EFFECTS ON OUR FUNCTIONING

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With the fast growing technology all around the world, what we knew today is already outdated by tomorrow. Does this ultra fast pace help us grow or pull us down or challenge us with new issues to tackle?If stability and consistency help us move with better integration,too much use of technology can definitely have ill effects on our psychological health and healthy human relations.With so called fast moving life/routine we all are supposedly busy with, how much meaningful interactions are really happening?

Sensory overload is our new terminology that can undoubtedly have effects on our not so meaningful human interactions at work place or with in our own family members. How many of us really listen to,see what is happening in front of us with undivided attention and sense right meaning of what we hear ! With thousand-and-one things running in the background of our minds we end up half listening/seeing and so impatient that we want just the conclusions or solutions! Is it not our common experience? But still we move on with our routines reassuring to ourselves  how we managed a meaningful and productive day.Sensory overloading can have drastic effects on the young growing minds of our children with no meaningful learning happening in spite of all the necessary gadgets that as parents proudly feel, we provided for our children irrespective of their receptive status. It has nothing to do with lacking intelligence or unable to remember information.Sensory overloading is inability to filter meaningful information from the meaningless.We all take our brains for granted that it can handle, process endless information! When we cannot have peaceful sleep that lost it ‘s refreshed feel, when we can’t have a healthy meal at regular intervals, our body indicates by easy fatigue and low concentration levels. So does our brain and it’s functioning.

Sensory processing disorder/sensory processing dysfunction is the condition clinically diagnosed in children. Child is happy to go to school but unable to make friends,always jumpy/nosy coming in the way of others,quick to grasp new concepts able to recollect one time but cannot at other times,sensitive to touch/noise, clumsy in eating/ dressing, easily tearful,moody, likes open places/outdoors and extremely restless indoors/restricted mobility, always fidgeting/restless can be confusing for parents and teachers as well. Is this child autistic or hyperactive? neither. These are symptoms of sensory perceptual dysfunction.No issues with intelligence, no sensory deficits but needing right doses of sensory stimulation.Is it treatable?definitely and very effectively not by medicines but by individually tailored occupational therapy.

Occupational therapy is the treatment module specially tailored to meet the individual child’s need for right sensory stimulation. It is usually very interesting fun filled activities to meet the right dose of sensory needs of your child.This includes wide range of activities of swinging,sand play,art & hand work such as free painting, knitting and most importantly unhurried and relaxed environment where children can be spontaneous and at their best. Can they become like any other child? go to school? A definite “YES” as long as you provide the right sensory stimulation at home until your child adapts to (based on each child’s need for right sensory stimulation).

Who can help? it’s a team work of developmental pediatrician,curative educator,physiotherapist and occupational therapist and of course an open minded parenting and not the least a sensitive teacher.

Then what is the way out for an adult overloading? An adult can easily recognise the symptoms of overload and work accordingly. Mould your environment with right mix of fun and work. It’s alright if every minute of your day is not focused towards spending only on productive activities but it’s not alright if you lose a precious relation or fail to listen to your child in need. Explore what can relax your mind and body -art/music/yoga/fitness in body and mind/travel/nature/good food/explore your own interests if you never explored so far.That will provide you the right solution.

Is School sufficient to meet the learning needs of our children?

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With wider choices now available for schooling of our children,a possible lack of clarity is developing in parents as to the right choice of school for their children. The search includes affordability of fee to an individual opinion of what purpose a school should meet. More wider choices of schools means more options to choose from and more schools that are better or more worse.

Parents are the best persons to choose for their children, but are they able to do the best? Some of us go by opinions of our friends/families, some feel more strict discipline at school is much better for children, some focus on academics and some on sports or extracurricular activities. Overall, everyone tries to make a decision with a focus on what is good for the future of their children. But do we ever look closely at or sensitively at our own children’s needs in terms of how our child is same or different from rest of the them? Or if placing a child in a particular school is helping or harming our children? Does the infrastructure- big building & large school grounds, digital classrooms reward or intimidate your child? It’s time for parents to think rather seriously as to what is a right choice of school for our children’s long term growth!

We as parents have to exercise the right choice if we believe learning is a life long purpose/process than restricting it to a career for survival or to develop a meaningful occupation.How many of us adults are convinced that what we learnt as kids is of use to us now for our personal or professional growth or for identity/survival purpose? We are in such a rush that our children has to meet our foregone dreams or decide their career path by 16 or 17 years or much earlier before their 10th birthday. We want to just fit our kids to an ever changing society or help them to somehow adjust to harsh realities of life, like more money, more fame, high social status and a better life without understanding the needs or pace at which the child wishes to develop. How many of us think that playing is necessary for child’s personality growth? Do we have a value system for ourselves as a family? Does our value system evolve with time or does it remain stable? Does it change as per our view at different levels in our life’s path? More questions often lead to better search or more confusion. Do we feel is it necessary to spend time so seriously when we have so many choice of schools available?

Irrespective of above questions,as parents we have responsibility to provide / expose our children to a wider system of learning.That cannot be possible in one day or one year.Listening to our children,observing their behavior or rather taking time for our children by meaningfully interacting with them will provide opportunity to question and find answers.It gives solutions to much more questions than that posed in above paragraphs.School is just one system in the process of learning but currently considered the most powerful system as it occupies /shapes our children’s lives in their rapid growing years.This is the time to sow more meaningful seeds in their tender minds.If we stop looking at academic achievement alone as the goal & expose our children to more wider areas of learning such as  less competitive sports & games to promote their physical growth needs,field trips/family tours focussed  towards natural animal/wild life exposure,(which kids can relate better), by introducing informal systems of learning , it may help to form firm basis to sciences in a practical sense. Hearing children relate their daily experiences of  routine  spent at school gives an idea of their experiences with peers, teachers &the kind of environment they are exposed & how much positive or negative experience added in their lives & how much meaningful learning happening  rather than judging them based on their progress report. Exposing children to different environments helps them & parents to figure out regarding their areas of interest such as sports,arts,music etc.This further helps  to plan right path for them.It’s not necessary to panic if child takes time to explore & decide where & what is their choice or area of interest.Inspite of our good intentions to give our children the best,if we cannot relate to them at their level of communication,our intentions may not be productive.Forcing kids to take our choices make them more dependent on us and lead to a situation where they fail to exercise their potential.A system of education that gives an impression of failure in academics is only damaging a child’s personality even before it is starting to unfold.

There is sensible need for parents to take time and think seriously about what is the best learning for a life time for their child. This has to be an individual decision that considers the individual child rather than rushing to conclusions that has effects for a life time.

Help children by introducing them to a wider world of learning not restricted to a formal classroom.

What is Family Therapy?

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When more than one member of a family are seen together in a therapy setting, it is called Family Therapy. The meeting of a couple, a parent and a child, siblings, or a multi-generation family with a family therapist all fall within the scope of family therapy.

When is family therapy indicated? Family therapy is indicated when the focus of therapy or counselling is related to changing or addressing unhealthy interactions between family members, aimed at improving the family functioning as a unit or improve functioning of individual members of the family.

Family therapy can be applied or approached for variety of conditions. Therapy can be used for or aimed at resolving difficulties between couple such as marital dissatisfaction, sexual or intimacy difficulties, therapy aimed at overcoming differences parents and their grown up children, or to address problems in the behavior of a family member and the consequent effects on other family members.

How does family therapy help? Family therapist focuses on the functioning of the family as a unit by careful and objective observations made while family members interact with each other in a therapy setting. In a family relationship, the relation is considered as a product of interactions happening between members as a process. For example, if a person addicted to alcohol reasons that his or her consumption is due to stress created within the family, the family members may reason that the stressful environment is created by the person’s alcoholism. The reasoning in this instance runs in circles with it being difficult to establish which came first- the stress or the alcoholism. Similarly, if a parent sees his child has a troublesome behavior, the child may reason that the parent never took time to understand their views. In a family therapy setting, the process of circular reasoning is carefully interpreted and the family given feedback to work out towards a more workable solution. The functioning of a family together will be the focus of counselling in a family therapy setting rather than focusing on changing an individual person. That means, all members are expected to change to have a possible resolution rather than holding onto or focusing on one member alone as a reason for difficulty.

Family therapy strengthens emotional bonding between members of a family by making them aware of the unhealthy behaviors of individual members , the aim of the therapy and the need for collaboration between all members towards achieving a desirable harmony that will improve overall functioning of the family as a unit. It gives a clarity to all members of the family involved in therapy as to how each member is contributing to the dysfunctional state.

There are different treatment or therapy models utilized by family therapist based on the nature of the problem, availability of family members and complexity of the family dysfunctioning. The cooperation of the members is a vital component for the success of the family therapy.

 

Clinical Psychology Services in Hyderabad, India

Dr. Kavitha Praveen

 

Building Bonds and Breaking Walls within Families

The center provides several services and is primarily focused on families and individuals with relationship issues who wish to work towards resolving differences and retaining or maintaining the relationship. The center also provides psychological services for children and adolescents and individuals who need psychological support services.

Dr. Kavitha, who trained in Clinical Psychology (M.Phil) from NIMHANS, Bangalore and has completed her Ph.D from Osmania University in Hyderabad, provides the psychological support services. She has a decades experience in providing Marital (Couple and Individual) therapy,  Family Psycho Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Psycho-diagnostics and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy. Dr. Kavitha is registered with the Rehabilitation Council of India.

Dr. Kavitha believes in a participatory approach where individuals learn to identify, acknowledge and work through their issues. 

The major areas of services are

  1. Marital and Family Therapy
  2. Psychotherapy Services
  3. Assessment and Diagnostic services
  4. Emotional and Academic Issues in Children and Adolescents

Consultations are provided through prior appointments by calling 9849924478 between 10 am and 4 pm.