THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ramanujam was a lawyer by day and a vigilante at night. He was suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder. Films such as ‘Anniyan’ had shed light into this complex psychological condition caused by various factors including severe traumatic childhood experiences or events that are painful to assimilate with one’s conscious self.
Taking cue of such conditions, Drug Rehabilitation Education and Mentoring (DREAMS), Mental Health Care, Child Line and Venad Guild of Psychiatrists organised an exhibition where they put up posters from films that portray mental disorders thereby introducing certain mental conditions with ease to students. “Today’s youth are fond of films which is why we thought it would be best to introduce them to such complex psychological conditions through the posters of Bollywood and Mollywood films,” said Dr Kiran Kumar, junior psychiatrist, Mental Health Centre, Peroorkada.
The exhibition focused on displaying behavioural patterns of characters from films. The character Harikrishnan from ‘24 North Katham’ played by actor Fahadh Faasil, depicts a person who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
The character has uncontrollable, recurring obsessions and compulsions such as excessive cleaning of hands, fear of germs, contamination and keeping things in symmetry. Putturumees from ‘Soorya Manasam’ an amazing role played by actor Mammootty suffers from severe mental instability. Shahrukh Khan played the role of Rizvan Khan who suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder in ‘My Name Is Khan’.
As part of the exhibition, a role play workshop on the topic ‘Building Resilience’ was taken by Dr Kiran Kumar S, a junior psychiatrist at Mental Health Centre, Peroorkada. “The theme revolved around the mental health of youth in the changing world. Stress, depression, self-harm tendencies are on the rise. We want to make them more resilient,” Kiran Kumar said.
There were clips from different films to address the issue of lack of patience, extreme aggression, impulsive behaviour and the consequences faced by characters as a result. Psychiatrists are in the opinion that today’s youth is confused between the virtual world and real life. “’Angamaly Diaries’ portrayed impulsive behaviour, especially actor Sarath Kumar who played Appani Ravi.
Here the youth has misunderstood resilience as bold, strong, villainous characters. However, that is not true. We are trying to mould a youth that is mature enough to make wise decisions,” Kiran added. To uphold mental stability through sports, the NSS Higher Secondary School teachers of Kesavadasapuram handed over sports kits to the students.