It will be surprising if anyone claims that he/she has not been depressed at some time or the other in life. Our marital/personal/professional life, in this whirling and topsy-turvy modern world, faces extreme challenges in an attempt to retain a modicum of sanity. However, the popular myth that the ‘happiness pills’ help us come out of depression received a severe jolt recently.
“One of the largest studies (in Britain) of modern antidepressant drugs has found that they have no clinically significant effect. In other words, they don’t work,” says The Independent. More here…
While The Times adds: “Millions of people taking commonly prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac and Seroxat might as well be taking a placebo, according to the first study to include unpublished evidence. More than £291 million was spent on antidepressants in 2006, including nearly £120 million on SSRIs. As many as one in five people suffers depression at some point.”
For the past decade or more lots of strides have been made in the field of alternative medicine. But the medical fraternity and the media refuses to take notice of it or recommends allocation of money to find out the efficacy of such healing processes. This could be owing to the conservative approach or the mighty influence of the powerful pharmaceutical industry that rakes in millions by providing drugs/pills whose efficacy is often questioned (Click here for more) …as now in the case of ‘happiness pills’.
Hearteningly, a large number of people, even in the West, are opting for yoga, reiki, acupressure, acupuncture, flower and aroma therapy…that aim to strengthen one’s positive thoughts, improve the blood circulation and the immune system. For my earlier posts on this subject please click here… And here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.