Born on April 5, 1929, in Karnataka, Dr Menon trained at the All India Institute of Mental Health, Bengaluru. She faced immense resistance from her family and friends as she decided to pursue psychiatry, but she remained persistent in her attempts and the rest is history.
Dr Sarada Menon is best known as the first Indian woman psychiatrist, one who revolutionized mental health in India and worked to reduce the stigma attached to it. She founded the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) in 1984, which went on to be affiliated with the WHO as a collaborating center for mental health research and training in 1996. The primary objective of the organization is to provide treatment and rehabilitation to those severely afflicted by mental illness, particularly schizophrenia.
One of the key aspects of her legacy is her approach of looking at mental illness through a lens of empathy for patients, and sympathy for their caretakers. Dr Thara, a profound psychiatrist and Dr Menon's colleague, mentions how she changed the SCARF from an asylum-like setting to a more recovery-conducive and rehabilitative space with social workers, doctors, and other professionals coming together to collaborate and focus on holistic recovery and rehabilitation. Another highlight of Menon's work is her extended focus on the health and mindset of the caretakers and families of those afflicted. She paid careful attention to creating programmes to educate caretakers about their own mental health, as well as providing emotional support. Menon's organization also often employed patients in order to empower them and have them claim their independence in whatever capacity possible. SCARF also boasts of high-quality training imparted to students, professionals and the larger community.
Therefore, Menon' immensely helped in bridging the gap between mental health professionals and patients in the country. Being the first woman in psychiatry, which was then considered a male-dominated profession, Dr Menon took it upon herself to lay emphasis on gender differences in the treatment and stigma around mental health. In a candid interview, she extensively talked about how not only physiological factors, but also many external conditions such as cultural attitudes towards women, economic and financial independence, freedom of education, violence towards women, and social injustice play critical roles in women's mental health and their vulnerability. The refreshing perspective of educating the masses about stress and mental illness and focusing on prevention is why she stood out from her peers. Another empowering venture by Dr Sarada Menon is the AASHA foundation. With the goal to acknowledge the struggle of caregivers, families and friends of those suffering from mental illness, AASHA was first founded by Dr Menon in 1989 along with a group of caregivers of those diagnosed with a mental health condition. At the advent of AASHA, it served as a common space for families to come together and share their concerns and turbulence of the caregiving process. With the realisation of how stigmatised mental health concerns had been at the time, AASHA began to create advocacy programmes to educate the community about mental illness. At present, in addition to advocacy and training programs, AASHA also has a residential wing to engage the patients with occupational training and therapy.
Extending Dr Menon's ideology to empower and rehabilitate patients through employment, AASHA now has small general and stationery shops managed by the patients, and sells consumables to the open market and companies. This has been one of the few novel attempts at returning agency to those afflicted with mental illness and engaging them with employment. A Padma Bhushan awardee, Dr Menon continued to monitor her patients and strived to learn from her peers and students, even at the age of 98. Her student Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, who is now the founder of SNEHA Foundation, a suicide prevention helpline, shared how Dr Menon was an excellent mentor with a yearning to not only teach but also to learn more from her colleagues and students. As described by many colleagues and the friends and family of Dr Menon, her demise is a huge loss to the country. However, her legacy continues to stay with us in the reflection of her cherished work at SCARF, AASHA, her students, peers, and patients who sought and received not only treatment but also care, empathy, and eventually, empowerment and rehabilitation.
Bhavyaa Sehgal
This article was first published on 12 December 2021 on NewsNine
https://www.news9live.com/india/dr-sarada-menon-mental-health-pioneer-indias-first-woman-psychiatrist-passes-away-obituary-legacy-139904
