We tried to interact and find out the psychological myths and tried to debunk them through our new podcast.
Please give a listen to them and feel free to give suggestion for our trial.
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Separation Anxiety- Adults also have it!
-Kripa Sigdel
I was trying to write something related to psychology since few days. But my wish to type ideas into computer seems to be blocked every time I sit to do so. Sometimes I used to not know about the topic and sometimes my mind started to wonder and jumped in other thing. And, this experience made me realize about my psychological condition and it said I am having separation anxiety!
Yes, same Separation anxiety which is defined by Google as ‘anxiety provoked in a young child by separation or the threat of separation from its mother or main care-giver’.
We do know, children go through this experience in many instances, say it in their first day of school or say it when their father left for the another country for job. Its a normal reaction or psychological condition in developmental stage. But confusing part for me is-is this experience experienced by adults also???
Analysing about my own experience and reading few articles from google made me realize this is the experience anyone, regardless of their age, can experience when they have to be separated with the things which they are habituated to be with.
So, next time, if your mind wanders or you find yourself memorizing and thinking about that one person who is leaving soon; if you are reluctant to do or anything else; you cannot fall asleep properly or you being emotionally disabled thinking about one particular reason, do not forget to consider the feeling as ‘Separation Anxiety’. Because Separation anxiety is not only felt by children, but adults also can go through this condition.
The feeling of separation from the loved ones with whom you are living since forever can be exhausting. It can ruin your daily life and can tear your routine apart. It can increase irritation and dis-functioning. And even, if you keep on being anxious about separation, it can be more problematic and dysfunction your psychological and physical health as well.
In 21 st century, its normal for our our loved ones, sibling, best friends or relatives to leave us to follow their dreams. But Its never easy to say Good Bye and this can lead us to separation anxiety. So rather than worsening this psychological condition, try to understand it and overcome.
Here, I want to share few things that we can do, to lessen the separation anxiety timely (before it changes into serious psychological condition).
1) Analyse the reason for separation and see it rationally:
If you can see the positive thing in the separation, it can help you to see the separation rationally. If you can take the separation as part of life, it can help you to get over it faster than you think.
2) Learn coping skills:
This can be helpful when you are too occupied by separation anxiety. If you keep on thinking about same person again and again, the situation will worsen. So, learn coping skills, like divert mind with hanging out with friends, visiting new places, start writing or watching movies. Start learning habit that will break free your anxiety.
Start learning new skills and do what you enjoy.
3) Keep yourself Busy:
Keeping busy when you are feeling anxious is not simple task. But try keeping yourself occupied, it can be helpful and help to minimize the miss.
4) Do not run from the loved one:
You want to get over separation anxiety, understandable! But try to talk to the loved one time and again after they leave. Keeping in touch time and again can help to minimize separation anxiety. In this era of social media, skype and google hangout, if you keep in touch with the loved one who is far from you, it will be much easier and helpful to overcome in the initial stage of separation of anxiety. Also, it’s not easier one the other side aswell. Your loved one also miss you exactly like you do. So do not run from them, rather cherish the moment and try to be your best next time you meet. You will have whole lot of story to share and experience together.
5) Practice being Apart:
It sounds funny to hear- practice being apart. But if you are into somebody whom you love so much but he or she is sure to be apart later in life, practice living apart from them for few days in every now and then. If you do not practice this before, leaving them for longer time abruptly will leave strong psychological impact which can lead to serious separation anxiety. Its not bad to practice being apart.
6) Leave Reminder Message:
Like I said in no. 4, its not easier on the other side as well. Your loved one also miss you so much. But since your attachment style and personality might be different which made you go through separation anxiety more. So remember to leave reminder message and surprises to them time and again. It not only help your loved one but internally satisfy you and help you to be more connected with them. Leaving ‘’I miss you’’ or ‘’I love you’’ message time and again satisfy your attachment to them and make your believe you both are still close and still are the same like when you were staying together. Share what you did in daily life, share other beautiful life experiences. This will make your be more closer in spite of being far as well and this can help to lessen the separation anxiety in good extent..
Research has found that significantly more women than men suffer from adult separation anxiety disorder. And, if the onset of this psychological condition lasts for more than 4 weeks, then its time to seek help from the professional. Also, the research has found that separation anxiety is based on an individual’s personality and attachment style.
Separation anxiety can be bad experience to go through; but if you do few tactics and control your anxiety, its worth the change which you see when you meet your loved one next time.
ITS NEVER EASY TO SAY GOOD BYE. But remember, GOOD-BYE is just the end of one era; a new beautiful era has just begun.
(Writer is the founder and executive director of Psychbigyaan Network Nepal. Her brother is leaving for his higher studies in a week and the article is the outcome of separation anxiety she is going through because of that. 🙂 )
How do I put off the fear of the earthquake?
How do I put off the fear of the earthquake?
– Sujan Shrestha
It’s been nearly 4 months of the earthquake. But frankly the remnants of the fear are still lurking in my mind. On top of that the frequent jumpy aftershock reinforces the fear. I guess people are slowly coming to the terms of the earthquake and want to dump it into their sub-consciousness as best as possible. But it seems the scar of the earthquake is to be here for some time in the people’s mind.
In this article I would like to share my own experience. I didn’t experience the major earthquakes because I was outside the country. In that sense I might be lucky. But the ripple effect of the earthquake definitely touched my mind. After 18 days of the earthquake I came back to Nepal. It was very much disheartening to see the fragile mental condition especially of my family members and the people. It is true that fear is contagious and this constant anxiety of the people and the uncertain nature of the earthquake have made the environment fearful. That fear has somehow sipped inside me as well. And aftershocks are there to make the matter worse.
The peculiarity of my anxiety is that at day time the fear doesn’t come in but at the night-time when I lay on the bed to sleep then slowly my mind ruminates about the questions such as what if the earthquake is to come while I’m sleeping. And the thought spikes the fear. The fear slowly replaces the sleepiness. Even the dogs barking begins to bother. Initially I have found this to be very much distressing as I didn’t have any ways to solve my fear. But aftersome time I learned to trick my mind. As soon as the fear starts to creep in then I close the door of my mind and get myself immersed in my fantasy and wonderful imaginations. I would like to call this fantasy and imagination as ‘mental storytelling’. It is like telling a story to your mind, feeding your mind with escapism. And the next thing I would be waking up not knowing when I fell asleep the last night. I try to make my imagination and fantasy as exciting as possible. For example one time I fantasized about receiving Nobel Prize and becoming famous in the world. In another instance I imagined to be a rich person and what I would be doing with the money. Like this I fantasize which doesn’t let the mind to fall prey upon the fear. This method has proved its worth to me and has given me a good sound sleep.
Mind should not be let to be your commander but instead you should able to control and manipulate to your own benefit. The mastery over one’s own mind empowers the person. Sometimes our thoughts get distorted and we might think in the wrong way. This happens to everybody but we should be able to manipulate our mind to make it think in our way to diffuse the distortions. This strategy of mine follows the same classic example of cognitive behavioural therapy.
We don’t necessarily have to seek help from others all the time. Often the times we are equipped with enough resources to solve the problem on our own. For that we have to acknowledge it as a problem, the problem of faulty thinking then channelize out thought to its rightful course. The wonderful thing about mind is that it can trick you or it can be tricked by you. The choice is yours !!
( The writer is the president of PNN and chief editor of psychbigyaan blog)
ABOUT US
Psychbigyaan Network Nepal is a registered organization in Nepal which works in promoting the field of psychology and mental health and give them the niche place in the societal mindset in Nepal. Here is a short intro of our executive board members:
1) Sujan: Founder and President
He is recent Psychology Graduate and enthusiast psychology student. His interests lies in Research and Clinical Psychology. He is also a writer and blogger. He is also responsible for editing PNN’s blog as Chief- Editor. He is determined to work for the betterment of Psychology and PNN.
2) Kripa : Founder and Executive Director, Vice- President
She is the recent psychology graduate and passionate Psychology Student. She also did course in New media and journalism. Her one of the interests lies in collaborating Media and Psychology. And, her other interests lies in School Psychology, Adolescents Psychology and Research. She is responsible for planning, designing, directing and working closely with other members for projects of PNN, so we call her ”Executive Director”.
3) Alisha Adhikari- Founding Board Member and Secretary
She is recent Psychology graduate and psycho social counselor , who is active in the field of psychology and determined to be a project leader of various projects of PNN. Her interests basically lies in child-psychology and Research. We call her ”Creative Artist” of PNN as she is interested in arts and sketches.
4) Shashank : Founding Board Member and Treasurer 
He is third year MBBS student and interested in Psychological aspects. He is dependable with accounts and logical management of money which makes him our treasurer of PNN. His interests are basically medicine and sometimes writing.
5) Jasein Lhamo :- Founding Board Member 
She is the first year Psychology student. She is determined to be a project leader of projects of PNN. Her interests lies in bio psychology and cognitive Psychology.
6) Ranju :- Founding Board Member
She is the final year student of general medicine. Her interests are in children and medicine. She is determined to be great support and leader whenever needed for PNN.
7) Bikash : Founding Board Member
He is a Social work and Management student. He is good at marketing. He interest lies in photography, especially photography in social issues.
FOR CONTACTING US, PNN: Chakrapath -3, Kathmandu Ph: 9860937293 Email: psychbigyaan@gmail.com
Inauguration of Psychbigyaan Network Nepal held
4th August 2015, Psychbigyaan
An inauguration ceremony of Psychbigyaan Network Nepal as a registered organization was conducted on Saturday August 1, 2015 . The event was conducted at Psychbigyaan Network Nepal’s office at Chakrapath-3, Kathmandu. It was presided over by the president of Psychbigyaan Network Nepal Mr. Sujan Shrestha. Four guests namely Sujen Man Maharjan (Psychologist and founder of Nepalese Psychology Network), Sushil Gurung (Psychiatric Social Worker, Mental Hospital Nepal) , Trishna Ghosh Bista (Clinical Psychologist, Mental Hospital Nepal ) and Rama Karki (Counsellor, Amrita Foundation and SOS, Jorpati) who are nominated as the members in the advisory board of the organization were called in the program along with two other special guests, Mr Krishna Prasad Sigdel and Pushpa Sigdel who are the patrons of the organization.
Ms. Alisha Adhikari started the proceeding as stage secretary. The event started with the welcome speech of Mr. Sujan shrestha. After the welcome speech the felicitation of guests was done with khaada by Executive Director of Psychbigyaan Network Nepal Ms. Kripa Sigdel. She also thanked all our advisory board for being with us. The felicitation program was followed by formal inauguration of the organization which was done by our patron Mr. Krishna Prasad Sigdel by lighting the oil lamp. As a part of formal introduction all the members of Psychbigyaan Network Nepal were formally introduced to the guests.
Then our guests were formally introduced and gave congratulatory wishes for PNN members for further growth and development of the organization.
To quote them:
Rama Karki ”I am pleased and honored to be with the team. I wish you the greatest luck and assure the team to be when I am needed.”
Shushil Gurung ”I remember the first time I met Kripa and Sujan and i always admired the enthusiasm they had. I am glad they found the organization when there is not many organization in Mental health/Psychology, especially handled by youths. I wish very good luck and wishes to the team”.
Sujen Man Maharjan .”’This is just the first step. The challenging part is yet to come. If you stay firm to your beliefs, enthusiasm and plans, then only you can achieve the motives. Good Luck. I am glad to be a part of the team.”
Trishna Gosh Bista ”Its not certainly easy to do the job. You can find many hurdles and challenges. It might take time, but if you keep doing, team can do the best. My wishes and good luck for the team.”.
Krishna Pd. Sigdel ”I am not much into Psychology but i know how valuable and important this subject is becoming day by day. I assure to be there for any kind of help when the organization needs. Best wishes.”
Pushpa Sigdel ”I am proud to be here today. My many many congratulation and wishes for the team.”
All the congratulatory speeches by our guests added more responsibility to the founders and board members. And, all the members were very happy and equally excited.
Finally the formal program ended with thank you speech by Mr. Sujan Shrestha.
Then the formal program was followed by snacks and informal conversation between members and guests. Guests also highlighted on how important is to work on Psychology and Mental Health at this stage in Nepal. They explained its increasing need with the time and how important is to include different aspects like theater, music, blogs, write-ups, etc to make Psychological learning simple and effective. This made our members and everyone who were enthusiastic about Psychology excited about the upcoming programs.
What is the situation of people mentally after the three months of the disaster
Sujen Man Maharjan in the article below has given a glimpse of what the situation situation of people on the ground after the three months of the disaster. In the article the writer has given fugurative possibility of the psychological morbidity with caution not to pathologize the symptoms. It’s an informative read to become aware of the situation. Read the full article in the link below:
3 months on: What is the status of mental health and psychosocial support in Nepal?
बिर्सने बानीसँग कसरी जुझ्ने?
उमेर ढल्किदै गएपछी स्मरण शक्ति घट्ने प्रबल सम्भावना हुन्छ | यो समस्यासंग कसरि जुध्न सकिन्छ? यस जिज्ञासाको समाधानको लागि बिबिसीले एउटा अनुसन्धान गरेको छ | मान्छेको स्मरण शक्ति उसको मानसिक स्वास्थासंग जोडिएको हुन्छा | यो तथ्यलाई ख्याल गरी न्यूक्यासल विश्वविद्यालयको सहयोगमा ३० जना स्वयंसेवीहरुमा खोज गरेको थियो | ती स्वयंसेवीलाई तीनवटा समूहमा छुट्याएर अर्को आठ हप्ताका लागि एउटा निश्चित काममा खटाइएको थियो।एउटा समूहलाई दिनको तीन घन्टा तीब्र गतिमा हिँड्नका लागि भनिएको थियो ताकि उनीहरुको स्वासप्रस्वास बेस्सरी बढोस्। दोस्रो समूहलाई शब्द र अंकहरु मिलाउनुपर्ने कोठेपद र सुडोकु जस्ता खेलहरु पूरा गर्न भनिएको थियो।यो पनि उनीहरुले प्रत्येक हप्ता तीन घन्टाको लागि गर्नुपर्थ्यो| तेस्रो तथा अन्तिम समूहलाई चाहिँ अथवा, नामको नग्न पुरुषको चित्र बनाउनुपर्ने एउटा चित्रकला कक्षामा सहभागी हुन भनिएको थियो। सबै समूहहरुले आफूमा केही सुधार भएको पाए। तर सबैभन्दा बढी प्रगति भने कलाको कक्षा लिनेहरुमा देखियो। किन तेश्रो समुहमा बढी प्रगति देखियो त ? यो थाहा पाउनलाई बीबीसिको यो लिंकमा गएर लेख पढ़नुसक्नुहुन्छ
WARNING BELL RINGS
According to the police report, the recent suicide rate has gone up in the valley after the quake. Comparing the suicide cases before and after the quake has shown this trendz. The month of Baisakh and Jestha after the quake has seen 36 and 31 suicides respectively. Police has interesring analysis of the suicide cases. Police has attributed the cause of the increase in the suicide to the aftermath of the quake. This is the warning bell and its the right time to intervene to provide psycho-socio support to the most affected people.
For detailed news click on the news link below:
http://setopati.com/chapa-bata/30440/
“We Listen” Came to an Successful End
“We Listen” Came to an Successful End
Psychbigyaan has yet another important accomplishment in its record. With the aim of providing psycho-socio support to the earthquake victims temporarily sheltered in Tudikhel Camp and supervise psychologically to the care givers and service providers, Psychbigyaan had started a 15- day psycho-socio support Program , “We Listen” or “Haami Sunchhau” from June June 10 to June 28. It was started with the support and collaboration by Youth Action Nepal and funded personally by Jackie Dickinson.
Psychibigyaan members Sujan, Kripa and Sanjeev conducted the program over 15 days between 3:30 PMto 6 PM everyday . Psychbigyaan team used the tool of active listening and prepared the questionnaire as per PFA (Psychological First Aid) and Solution Focussed Approach. The team conducted one to one session with the 70 +50 affected people varying from teenage to old age. The latter 50 people were taken as subjects to conduct a survey of the possibility of psychiatric cases of the people staying over the camp.
The program was revolved basically on four basic aspects i.e rapport, reflective listening, need assessment and intervention. The team found majority of the people to be distressed which was slowly decreasing with the time which were expected like sleeplessness, feeling edgy, irritation, laziness, fear, anxiety, loneliness, sadness etc. Considerable number of people were fine and had very little distress whereas very small minority i.e 2 people were found to have dysfunctions. Those 2 people were the cases of relapse of psychiatric condition after the earthquake.
Besides psychological problems, many other social problems were found out due to the aftermath of the earthquake. Psychbigyaan team found out the increasing marital tension between the spouses, poor living condition of the people, increasing poverty, privacy problems specially for young teenage girls, increasing teenage love, anger management issues, aid dependency, idling around , huge chances of girls and women trafficking and very serious effect on the education of the children.
The team believes the program to be successful because many people reported their stress level to had gone down after talking to the team members. Such programs are necessary in other camps, shools and in the community as well. The team is very thankful to its partners, Jackie Dickinson for her immense support and Youth Action Nepal for providing space for the program. Psychbigyaan team strongly feels the immense sense of satisfaction and success over the completion of the program. No-doubt this will be registered as an important milestone in the work history of Psychbigyaan.
Psychbigyaan Podcast -2 : ‘About Our Campaign- Hami Sunchhau (We Listen) !’
Post Earthquake- 2015/April-25, Psychbigyaan team has been doing various works related to children and adolescents.
In continuation to that, we are starting our new campaign called ‘Hami Sunchhau-We Listen’ from June 10 for 15 days in Tudhikhel, one of the largest open space in Kathmandu, where hundreds of affected people are staying in tents post Earthquake.
This campaign uses technique called ‘Active Listening’ and provides initial psycho social support to the affected ones. Also this campaign is supposed to be used and be helpful to caregivers, volunteers, army personnel around there. Our target groups are mostly adults, youths and care givers. We will be using ‘Active Listening technique’ and ‘Solution Focused Approach’ while handling the sessions there. And in case of severe problems, we are interested to link them to the professional and help them as needed.
Please give listen to our Podcast to know more about our Campaign. Podcast gives information about The Campaign, Target Group, Benefits of this Program, Expectations and Outcomes, etc.
This Campaign is first conceptualized by Kripa Sigdel ,coordinated by Sujan Shrestha and helped by Sanjeev Bhandari and Alisha Adhikari. We all are Psychbigyaan team and are actively doing works post crisis. We 4 are responsible conducting sessions for this Campaign.
And, we are also grateful to the supporters ‘Youth Action Nepal (Quake Volunteers)’ for providing us Space and Volunteers and ‘Jackie Dickinson’ for supporting us with other necessary required Materials.
Podcast Youtube Link:
Podcast SoundCloud Link:
Feedback related to ‘this Campaign’ and our ‘Podcast System’ will be highly appreciated.
Also let us know if you want to hear discussion on certain issues related to Psychology or Mental Health or post crisis situation.
Also, we will be grateful to hear your stories if you have. Please let us know, we are here.
We Listen-Because We Care!
Our email address: psychbigyaan@gmail.com
(Report by Kripa Sigdel)
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