depression

The journey from melancholia to depression

We now know more about the human mind than we ever did before. This has enabled us to better address, if not cure its maladies.  A recent Stanford study has identified six distinct types of depression using brain imaging and machine learning. The research aims to enhance the accuracy of treatments and reduce reliance on the […]

hot

When summers become too hot to handle

From India to Bangladesh and Myanmar to Thailand, the relentless heat has disrupted daily life, claimed lives, and exacerbated existing socio-economic challenges. Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan’s recent hospitalisation due to heat stroke has brought much deserved attention to the severity of the heatwaves sweeping across India and the broader South Asian region. While Khan […]

Mental health

Mental health: The silent pandemic we are grappling with

With over 150 million Indians requiring mental health care services, yet only around 30 million seeking help, there’s an urgent need for education and awareness.  Mental health has always been a tricky issue. More so in less developed countries, such as India. Although the disease is like any other, it often isn’t recognised as one, […]

health disinformation

Decoding health disinformation during elections

In a year when the world’s oldest and the largest democracies are going to polls, AI-generated fake news is expected to be all over the place.  Does health mis/disinformation increase or decrease during elections? Very little is known about this phenomenon. It is, however, scientifically proven that political fake news becomes rife during polls.  According […]

prebunking and debunking

Adopting a hybrid strategy of prebunking and debunking

We need to examine the differential impact of false information and truthful information. Is the harm caused by falsehoods offset by the dissemination of truth? Can the viral spread of disinformation and misinformation ever be completely curbed? It is a rhetorical question. We know by now that while false narratives of any kind can be […]

winters

Climate change: Warm winters set new temperature records globally

Disruption of winter upsets a series of vital environmental processes that nourish life on earth.  Kashmir Valley, one of India’s coldest places, is witnessing an unusually warm winter with day temperature hovering over 15 degrees Celsius, at par with the capital city, New Delhi. In the middle of winter, spring is in the air. Trees […]

Climate change

Climate change debate: putting health first

Despite the enormous global attention being paid to climate change, its fallout on health is only now being recognised Recent studies on climate change have painted a very grim picture of its immediate and long-term fallout on health. The trend has been exacerbated over the last few years during which extreme weather events have caused […]

mental health

The mental health fallout of climate carnage

Mental health issues could become widespread as climate change threatens to worsen and extreme weather events become more frequent, upending people’s lives Many people consider autumn to be one of the best seasons of the year. It is a delight to watch the leaves turn yellow and temperatures mellow down. In some regions, cicada courtship […]

Climate Depression

Pandemic of Climate Depression

The growing levels of anxiety connected to climate change were attempted to be quantified in research published in 2021 by The Lancet. It was found that 84 percent of the young people polled were “moderately worried” about climate change, while 59 percent of them were “extremely worried.” More than half of the respondents claimed to have felt depressed, nervous, angry, guilty, or helpless as a result of climate change, and 45 percent said that their concern over it had a detrimental influence on their everyday life.

Decarbonizing our lives

Our energy-intensive lifestyles are sending billions of tons of yearly emissions into the atmosphere When Thomas Hardy wrote his pastoral Far From the Madding Crowd in 1874, the industrial revolution that had begun in England a century ago was looming over country life. The novel was thus a nostalgic throwback to a way of life […]

climate change

Climate discourse taking centre stage

While growing scientific evidence has raised the climate consciousness in the world, politics has also played a distinct role Over the last two years, climate change seems to have got much wider political and media attention around the world. It is apparent from the increasing frequency of statements on the phenomenon from world leaders and […]