In the spotlight

It promises to be a bumper brain harvest on mental health as 200-plus psychiatrists across the world will gather at Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Science (Rinpas) to discuss mental disorders across cultures on September 24 and 25, a first-time initiative in the country.

Rinpas director Amool Ranjan Singh told mediapersons on Thursday evening it was global meet on “trans-cultural psychiatry”. The mega event is being hosted with Canada-based EPS Global Medical Development Incorporation, an outfit for health awareness.

Among notable visiting psychiatrists are Italy’s Cristiana Ceccatelli, Slovenia’s Joselyne-Jeanne Ghedighian, Croatia’s Zvonimir Pastar, Japan’s Yoji Nakatani, USA’s Mathew L. Belmonte, Australia’s Andrew Cashin, UK’s Steph J. Hellawal, Chrish R. Brewin and Ilaria Tocco, Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Dukhail al-Khathami, Hungary’s Metaj Tocco and China’s Yang Wang.

Chief minister Arjun Munda will be the chief guest at the inauguration, while Ranchi University vice chancellor A.A. Khan will do the honours at the valedictory function.

N.G. Desia, the director of New Delhi-based Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, will present the keynote address.

He added that more than 100 papers related to trans-cultural psychiatry will be presented in a rich cross-fertilisation of knowledge among mental health experts across the world. “The eminent doctors will share varied mental disorders prevalent across different cultures and find out a way to treat them,” he said.

The senior doctor said that culture definitely had an impact on mental health or the lack of it. For example, certain disorders common in India may not be present in the US or vice-versa,” he said.

This is the second global meet hosted at the institute. In 2008, an global meet was hosted on what is called the Somatic Inkblot Series, in which psychiatrists spoke on how inkblot shapes were a classical psychological tool to identify and cure mental disorders.