Kevin* is a 26-year-old male who was addicted to porn and was prone to compulsive masturbation. It started affecting his daily functioning and he had a hard time taking control of his day, causing significant emotional distress and feelings of shame and guilt. He started feeling isolated and misunderstood due to his excessive sexual behavior. Since he found it extremely difficult to control, it also impacted his dating life. And because of the nature of the problem, he wasn’t comfortable discussing this with his close friends. He was hesitant to seek therapy because he felt ashamed and embarrassed about his condition. But eventually, he found the courage to reach out for help at The Mind Research Foundation and was connected to one of our psychologists. Through therapy, Kevin* learned the root causes of his problem, including past trauma and anxiety, and how to manage his urges in healthy ways. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), a specific form of behavioral therapy, helped him recognize and challenge his negative thoughts and behaviors related to sex. He was also taught mindfulness techniques to help him regulate his emotions and impulses. He learned to recognize and challenge his negative thoughts and behaviors related to sex and developed a better understanding of his triggers and underlying emotions. With time, his compulsive need to masturbate and watch porn began to fade, and he felt more in control of his life. He started to rebuild relationships with family and friends, and he even began dating again, but this time in a healthy and respectful manner. He knew that he would continue to use the skills he learned in therapy to maintain his recovery. In the end, Kevin’s* journey taught him that seeking help is a sign of strength. With the right support and the willingness to change and process his maladaptive behaviors, he found that he could take back control of his life for the better! (*names changed for anonymity)

Sameer*, a 20-year-old student came to The Min Research Foundation with complaints of being aloof, having a general lack of concentration, and being aggressive and angry towards his parents. Having spent his schooling years in the Middle East, he wasn’t very close to his parents. An above-average student, he found it very difficult to please his parents as his parents had high expectations from him without guiding him or nurturing him. Once he moved away from home to join a liberal arts school, his complaints showed up affecting his classes and social circles. His father’s monitoring and keeping a constant eye on him via telephone calls did not help him. On top of all this, he fell severely ill with a viral fever which caused homesickness. Quitting college halfway through the year, he came back home only to feel unhappy and have a low mood most days. Feeling tired and sleepy for most of the day, and eating too little… he didn’t seem to be himself according to his mother. Before his adjustment difficulties which set in during his adolescence, he was well-dressed and oriented to time, place, and person. When he came in to seek help, he seemed receptive to sorting out his issues and getting back on track. Through therapy, Sameer* learned different ways to reduce his existing stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Using a kind of therapy called Mindfulness-based Cognitive therapy which brings around a change in the thought pattern of the person, we helped him navigate his past issues and set small achievable goals for him each session. By giving more meaningful emphasis to his present, his past issues were dealt with care and had the constant support of the psychologist. (*names changed for anonymity)

Aparna*, a 14-year-old was accompanied by her guardians to our organization saying she wasn’t eating well, exercising a lot, and not feeling hungry at all times. She seemed to be having these symptoms for over five months impacting her physical and mental health in terms of mood swings, crankiness, irregular menstrual cycles, and hair loss.  In our interactions with our psychologist, she revealed that her insecurity and obsessive thoughts about her weight were heavily influenced by her peers due to bullying and other events at school. This also impacted her interpersonal relationships in terms of her family and friends further negatively impacting her mental health. Something that started as an initial fitness routine in a healthy way turned into skipping meals and obsessing over weight loss.  Our psychologist helped Aparna* and her guardians understand that she was suffering from an eating disorder called Anorexia Nervosa. They were also recommended to consult a dietician to monitor and track her physical health and overall eating. Apart from this, Aparna* came once a week to the clinic where she worked on her relationship with food and her weight with the help of therapy techniques like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness-based techniques. During one of the sessions, the psychologist noticed that Aparna’s* self-image was low. Therefore, strategies were put in place to help her build and improve her self-image and work on building interpersonal relationships. As the sessions progressed, a significant amount of change and improvement was seen in Aparna* where she could eat better and had an improved sense of self and her interpersonal relationships.  (*name changed for anonymity)

Ishaan* was highly suicidal from a young age. A 29-year-old who struggled with suicidal thoughts ever since his school days found himself in a difficult position when his sister-in-law died by suicide. When he started talking to one of our psychologists, he revealed that he usually notices a significant increase in suicidal thoughts once every five years which severely impaired his daily routine and mental health.  He also revealed that he had a recent breakup with his partner as his parents weren’t supportive of his relationship. This significant event and his sister-in-law’s sudden death re-ignited his suicidal thoughts and behaviors. His interpersonal relationships with his family members were also estranged due to several factors leading to conflicts which just got worse post his breakup. Not just family members, but he seemed to have difficulty maintaining interpersonal relationships in the other aspects of his life too like his friends, office colleagues, and acquaintances. Once the therapeutic process began, our psychologist implemented various therapeutic techniques like Cognitive- Behavioral Therapy, Schema Therapy, some social skills training, and others. With the help of cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy, Ishaan* was able to gain insight into his social anxiety and overcome it along with helping him understand his triggers which lead to his suicidal ideation. They also worked on his conflicts and issues with his interpersonal relationships which involved anger, anxiety, and some depressive symptoms. They worked on his negative thought patterns, set goals, and worked on anger management with the help of schema therapy, a kind of therapeutic technique that combines a variety of techniques from other therapies.  As the sessions progressed, you could see that Ishaan* seemed to feel significantly better while his professional life was still impacted. Therefore, after two months of intensive therapy, they decided to work on his professional as well as personal relationships so that he can function as a better person.  (*name changed for anonymity)

45-year-old Revathi* felt that she was constantly cleaning her house even when there was nothing to clean and found herself spending over two hours in the bathroom often. She also had necrophobia i.e., a fear of dead bodies and places where dead bodies might be. She often dreamt of burnt dead bodies with their ashes settling on her wheat dough in the kitchen. This led her to deep clean her kitchen and avoid buying or consuming any wheat products. After a point, her fear escalated to a point where she refused to travel near a cemetery since she believed the air from the cemetery would infect the car. In a situation where she had to travel that way, she would thoroughly clean up and throw away the clothes she was traveling in.    She had reached out to a psychiatrist who prescribed medication she said she started hallucinating and therefore, stopped. Our psychologist at the Mind Research Foundation helped her process and work on herself and her fears in a few months. Once she started her therapeutic process, she mentioned that her biggest concern was sitting in the washroom for hours together affected her other responsibilities. Her thought patterns were addressed in a way where she wasn’t shamed for her obsessive thoughts and compulsions and encouraged to face her fears. This significantly reduced her rate of discomfort with her emotions and thoughts since she started accepting that it was okay to feel that way.    Even when the discomfort arose, she was taught breathing exercises and other mindfulness exercises so that she could ground herself and sit with the discomfort until it passed. Once she started improving, the psychologist could see that she was receptive and comfortable with feedback. Therefore, Revathi* was psycho-educated as to how energy, time, and efforts go to waste due to things causing her distress. She was also taught about her maladaptive thoughts and the connection that led to her unhealthy coping mechanisms.    After a few months of seeing drastic improvement where she could cope with her obsessive thoughts, our psychologist saw fit to have reinforcing sessions so that she could implement whatever she learned in the therapeutic setting in her everyday life. Once her presenting concerns were dealt with to an extent where her symptoms weren’t present on an everyday basis, the psychologist saw fit to terminate the sessions. Today, Revathi* leads a much better life where she can cope with her thoughts and not let them take over.    (*name changed for anonymity)

Rahul* was extremely terrified of being in social situations and meeting new people to the extent that he would avoid social situations that required any sort of interaction. Feeling judged by others and anxious about being in social situations was prevalent since he was 20 years old. Now, at 23 his fear and anxious thoughts only progressively got worse.  After taking an appointment with our psychologist at The Mind Research Foundation who recommended him to our clinical psychologist, found that he was suffering from social anxiety and was diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder. Once the diagnosis was made, Rahul* felt more comfortable because he knew what was happening and could put a name to his thoughts. He said that he was relieved to know that recovery was possible and was receptive and willing to put in the effort.  Once we went in-depth into his concerns, he revealed that he didn’t have that much difficulty having one-on-one conversations with someone and only felt uncomfortable. He found it extremely difficult to deliver presentations or speak publicly and he had a few coming up soon. Initially, our psychologist suggested some mindfulness exercises like deep breathing and JPMR (Jacobson Progressive Muscle Relaxation), a muscle relaxation exercise to reduce stress.  In the next few sessions, they practiced public speaking on random topics for specific times and had constructive feedback from both persons. The psychologist found that she had more positive feedback to give compared to Rahul’s* feedback. Noticing this, our psychologist psycho-educated him saying that the more he magnifies his negative thoughts and evaluations, the more anxiety it’ll cause him. It was also pointed out to him that something like avoiding eye contact and preparing the conversations in his head only hindered his performance even though it served him well at some point in his life.  Along with all this, he was also given homework to practice giving lectures on random topics with people he was comfortable with. As the sessions progressed, he felt more comfortable and confident with talking to new people, presenting, and public speaking. Role plays, an explanation of assertiveness, and how to be assertive were taken up further reducing anxiety. Rahul’s* self-image also drastically improved once his rates of anxiety started diminishing.  (*name changed for anonymity)