Pangs of the past

Gaurav Kanthwal

The Partition of India, and the ensuing social, emotional turmoil is a recurrent theme in literature, cinema, political rhetoric and social theories. However, it is completely missing from the medical and psychotherapy literature of India. 

Even today, psychiatrists in India, as their study material, refer to the psychological impact of the Holocaust in the 20th century Europe or the Truth and Reconciliation process of South Africa (1995). Unfortunately, the biggest tragedy of the subcontinent —the Partition — also a perennial source of intergenerational trauma, has been silently buried in the folds of time. 

Editors Sanjeev Jain and Alok Sareen through their book have initiated a dialogue between clinicians, historians, researchers in gender studies, media and society in general. The 241-page book offers 11 different viewpoints to help understand the psychological impact of catastrophic event and find ways to come out of it. 

The book conveys that psychiatrists must not neglect the mental distress and illnesses caused by societal tension.