BENGALURU:People who write the letters y and g with more pronounced and curved tails are more physically experimental. If you are one of those who do not join the letter t with other letters in a word, it is a sign that you are more stubborn and determined.
These are not just assumptions of this reporter but some basic understandings in graphology and grapho-therapy. The former is a study of a person's handwriting and it's co-relation with a person's personality traits and emotional states while the latter is the theory that conscious change in one's handwriting can bring about desired changes in a person.
While there is a lot of debate about grapho-therapy being a pseudoscience, this has not stopped a number of people in the city and elsewhere from experimenting with such therapies for depression, anxiety and other mental ailments.
Easing tension
Twenty-five year old Yoshita Kote works for a law firm in the city. When she first started law school she remembered being overwhelmed by many emotions. "I really could not understand what exactly I was feeling. I would say I was sad for a while but not particularly depressed. I think I was a bit intimidated by the course and there were some lingering tensions I had with some of my friends. I was an extrovert but I was slowly shutting myself. I did not realize this until later," she says.
Yoshita attended a short session on grapho-therapy around this time. She claims that subsequent sessions of the therapy helped her to cope with her "momentary sadness." "I think I became self aware about what was happening and was able to address the situation. I go for these sessions from time to time just to assess myself," she adds.
Sangeetha Amarnath, graphologist and grapho-therapist who 'treated' Yoshita says, "I have been giving these sessions since the past 15 years and I can tell you that the interest has been only growing in the city." Sangeetha offers sessions for individual cases as well as people in groups such as students in schools, colleges and working professionals. "I have a clinic of my own and on an average I would get around 30 to 35 people in a month around two years back." She was on a break for two years and has just started giving sessions again. "Grapho-therapy as a means to treat depression, anxiety and stress is relatively new in the country and city however it is gradually gaining ground," she adds.
Talking about the pseudoscience charges against her trade she says, "There are scientific tools that have been developed by veterans before us that clearly show that this is not just a pseudoscience. There are a few world renowned institutes teaching grapho-therapy and famous proponents who have made a big name in this field. Most important of all, there are hundreds who can testify about the positive changes brought about through this therapy."
'Made my child calm'
Anitha Madhukar, another city-based graphologist and grapho-theparist talks about a case where a special child came to her for sessions and saw positive results. "This child had problems with speaking, hearing and hyperactivity. We conducted a few sessions and there was a lot of improvement in him. Not just in this student, there have been drastic positive changes in many other people I have treated," claims Anitha. She says she regularly conducts sessions for as many as 60 people in a year. Since seven years since she started practicing, more people are enrolling for the therapy as of today, she adds.
A software engineer, Venkatesh CN, father of the special child who was 'treated' by Anitha says he enrolled his child for 'treatment' as a young boy of around three and a half years when he just started school. Venkatesh says, "It used to be extremely difficult to control my boy. Just to make him do his homework I would spend around one to two hours. I would also dread taking him to other people's homes not knowing what he would do there. I heard about grapho-therapy through a radio programme and decided to try it.
The effect, he says, has been immense. "Since starting the therapy we noticed a number of changes. He now just just sits calmly in one corner and does his school work. We began therapy for his hearing around six months before the grapho-therapy as well," he adds. He further says, "I agree there are many arguments about this therapy's scientific validity but it worked for my son. While not ignoring other factors such as his growth, I feel grapho-therapy is a reason for his calm state," he adds.
Expert take
Dr Manjula A, professor, NIMHANS, says that in neuro-psychology and cognitive assessments there are a number of established and scientifically proven tests to test the relation between one's mental states and handwriting. "For example if someone is in a disturbed mental state one can see something of an anxious handwriting. If there is some brain pathology it shows in one's handwriting. However I have not come across anything that talks about changing one's handwriting to achieve better mental states," she says. Manjula adds that she is no expert in handwriting or grapho-therapy and therefore cannot comment on its scientific veracity.