The freemind initiative is an appeal. An appeal to medical practitioners & paramedical personnel. Whenever you are talking to your patients, take out one minute of your time to enquire about their mental health. A minute of your time would help the patient in a great way to talk about things that they never knew were important. And in that way promote mental health awareness in India.
Some questions that you can use are :
- How are you feeling these days?
- Is your sleep alright?
- Any fearful thought?
- Persistant thoughts about death or dying?
- Appetite?
- Any pain out of proportions or unexplained?
and many other questions which will only take a minute of your time but will change a lifetime for the patient.
So please join this initiative and ask for a psychiatric referral whenever you feel the need. You can always check out this webpage to find any psychiatrist close to your place of work.
I also urge psychiatrists to post their contact details on the page below to take part in the freemind initiative.
www.facebook.com/thefreemindinitiative