Homemakers and techies in India are taking up psychology - The Hindu

Shefalee Vasudev, 55, thinks people have different temperaments: that of a guitar player, footballer, or perhaps a carpenter. It became important for managers to understand the day-to-day challenges of their employees, and work with them to help them cope.” The majority of students in Kesavan’s current psychology programme, he says, are mid-career professionals like himself, looking to either supplement their existing careers with a psychology degree or switch to the profession full time. If we’re so careful about physical health, why not the same standards for mental health professionals?” This lack of scrutiny, she thinks, has spawned a whole pseudo-science industry, with life coaches, wellness influencers and self-styled gurus dispensing psychological concepts and help. These courses and the people taking them are driven more by a rising demand for lay mental health services, particularly for day-to-day issues like stress, anxiety and depression,” says Sanjeev Jain, Professor of Psychiatry at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences. As she started getting a lot of kids with special needs, she felt the need “to understand more about autism, ADHD”, and so enrolled to get her Master’s.