People’s psychiatrist 

BENGALURU: Recently, a 76-year-old man visited the Samadhana Counselling Centre-a free counselling center- in Arekere. He could not recognise his grandchildren and mistook them to be someone else’s. He had also forgotten how to take a bath or get dressed. Like him, Dr CR Chandrashekar, founder of Samadhana, has seen several patients who suffer from dementia- the loss of cognitive functioning wherein the symptoms include progressive impairments to memory, reasoning, thinking and behaviour, thus having a negative impact on the person’s everyday activities.

“Owing to problems in the geriatric community, the elderly being the most neglected section of the society, with their increasing population and problems, I decided that it was the right opportunity to donate for a cause. I donated `1 crore from my personal account and `9 lakh from my family trust to support the operational expenditure of the 40-bed REC Dementia Care Centre to be built by NIMHANS,” says Chandrashekar, former professor of psychiatry, NIMHANS.

Caregivers, who are mostly female, often get burnout while taking care of persons suffering from dementia. According to Chandrashekar, the caregivers require the support and skills to take care of patients and that is where this centre plays a part. He said that apart from being the treatment centre, family members, doctors, nurses, and health workers, will be trained in caregiving. As of now, there are no drugs that can improve the memory or check on further deterioration of the brain. “Only associated emotional problems such as anger, depression, anxiety, and comorbid physical conditions can be treated in patients suffering from dementia,” says Chandrashekar, who’s affectionately known as the ‘people’s psychiatrist’.

Quoting the phrase, ‘use your brain or lose your brain’, Chandrashekar said that the center will teach caregivers exercises such as making the patient recall, teach them how to bathe, narrate them a story, or teach them how to cope with odd behaviours. “Elderly people often do not use their brain; they do not learn or think anything new. Here (centre), we teach caregivers how to train them that will rejuvenate dying cells temporarily and postpones the aging process. We also counsel them to accept that the patient is dementing and they have limitations. Many people often misinterpret the situation as fake,” says Chandrashekar. 

Stressing on the government’s need to invest more on the geriatric population whose numbers is likely to increase to 30% by 2050,  Chandrashekar pointed out that the government must conduct awareness programmes, build health facilities, public shelter homes, develop manpower and geriatric centers in every hospital, and train professionals to identify dementia cases early. He has also proposed to NIMHANS, to give a cash award of `5 lakh to a post-graduate student, based on an exam conducted in the subjects of public mental health and geriatric psychiatry. Nearly 50% of the volunteers  at Samadhana are elderly people. In order to remain fit, he said that one needs to enjoy one’s work’s to avoid physical or mental stress, and “be comfortable, have simple needs, and remain content”.