Dr. Dhruti Anklesaria - Mental Health Is at the Forefront of the Digital Health Movement, and Its Progress Has Been Further Accelerated by the COVID-19 Pandemic (Founder - Yourway Life, Gujarat, India)

Dr Dhruti Anklesaria

PhD. (Psychology), PGDCH, Mental Health Professional, Adept at Applied Psychology, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, the Behavioral and Relationship Therapy Expert

1. Tell us about your upbringing, background and Journey? 

Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going. Your identity can be partly heritage and partly values of upbringing, but mostly depends on the choices you make in life. Education is the only asset that no one can take away from you. 

With this mindset and the core value, I have been nurtured with access to Vedas was the privilege I have had in my early years of life which gave me vision and perspective towards life. That when there is harmony between heart, mind and resolution, a manifestation of dreams is possible. 

With this being the seed in my roots, started a journey in the field of the human mind and it has never been work for me as it’s an integral part of myself within.

My journey is and shall continue to remain with an objective to raise awareness about the mental health continuum, spreading an understanding that talking about mental health is not taboo and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.

My contribution towards spreading mental health awareness drives have been dysfunctional family, suicide prevention, cross-dressing, stress, anxiety, depression, OCD, women’s mental health, menstrual stigma, breast cancer stigma, sexuality stigma, women’s empowerment, contributing towards empowering girl children across the nation.

I am a lifelong learner, which keeps me going, learning and understanding how people learn and cognitive psychology, human behaviour and diffused thinking patterns is my major interest.

Being a founder, owner of the institute - your way life; An institute for mental well-being, counselling, psychology, hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming, being a doctorate in psychology and postgraduate in clinical hypnotherapy, I strive to train and multiply more people in this field of mental health as the ratio India has is only of 0.75 mental health practitioners per 100,000 people and this the gap between mental health experts and patients is very vast.

2. What led you to take up this career?

Passion and more passion in learning the human mind and raising and spreading mental health awareness and helping as far as I can; Which LED this as a career as one says…

But for me, it is the "purpose I have found in my life", and when you find the purpose in your life this work becomes worship.

Being a human empath, my inborn ability to connect naturally and understand the experiences and feelings of others outside my own perspective has been a sustainable factor, when people open their hearts and speak with me. 

I started developing this interest being an active listener at a very young age, and this amplified with age when people would want me to talk about various psychology topics in workshops and share my knowledge to narrow down their burden. With all my integrity I can say that I love what I do…

3. What are some common myths in society about psychology? 

I call it as “Log Kya Kahenge" Syndromne. Myths about the subject cannot be ruled out unless there is a drastic shift in the belief system.

Psychology in India is associated with Mental health and solely with medication which in itself is a myth. Its perceived anybody who is struggling with mental health is simply considered to be mad and our society barely to date understands the meaning of mental health.

People have myths and confusion for Psychiatrists and Psychologists. Where a psychologist can not prescribe drugs the former can. Also in my case where Clinical Hypnotherapyasanalternative medicine is concerned. In our society Psychology, Hypnotherapy and mental health as a conversation is the most shamed and unspoken one, people consider it to be stigmatized and believes that they cannot be the prey to affected mental health.

The myth is that they cannot mentally be unfit, which eventually makes it very difficult and so most of the people refuse to believe that they need help.

Some other common Myths which I encountered are:

• Problems with the mind or Mental Health are signs of weakness
• Once you have an issue with mental health, it is permanent
• Man cannot talk about Mental Health issues
• Stay away from people with Mental Health issues as they can be violent
• Nobody will marry you if you say that you are taking counselling
• You will not get employed if you say that you are going to a therapist

According to WHO (World Health Organisation) estimated that “1 in 4 people in the world are affected by mental health., which simply means that we as a society are not only suffering.

We as a society believe in personal sufferings but will not talk about something openly just because we feel it is disgraceful or less prestigious be feeling not okay. We have categorized mental health as a taboo that we do not want to break.

These myths are not only wrong but are also dismantling our beliefs and humanity in the larger perspective.

4. How do you expect digital mental health to grow over the next 5 years?

It is rightly said by Charles Darwin “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Amid the COVID- 19 crisis, the lives of every individual are gone for a toss and it has in a way forced people to perform most of the activities of life online and create a different virtual world.

Mental health is at the forefront of the digital health movement, and its progress has been further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This can be seen as a paradigm shift to digital platforms among formal mental health systems.

So the surge in demand as we anticipate the subsequent mental health pandemic in many countries. Dealing on day to day basis and counselling various client/patients conditions such as anxiety, Depression, Stress, Panic attack, relationship issues, covid stress and fear and many more were easily manageable during lockdown because of Digital Platforms.

Most of the patients prefer online services as they feel comfortable and feel they would be safe. Also, there are plenty of applications available online which makes it easy for people to have an access to Mental Health professionals with great ease and comfort.

Digital platforms have made easy access, privacy and moreover safety in COVID-times.

So considering the next 5 year’s Digital Mental Health and the way it has paced up, will still continue to boom because it will be able to meet the population ratio, we have of Mental Health Practitioners vs Patients, Accessibility, the quality of the application and if it ensures engagement and efficacy of the desired outcome.


5. What are your concerns about Digital Mental Health?

When it comes to digital health I believe what is truly said by - Chilmark Research". The notion that simply discharging patients with some technology will prevent readmission or ensure positive outcomes is more wishful thinking than reality."

Addressing concerns can be for a segment of the society that feels confided when they meet a therapist face to face and feel confident that they are speaking to humans and not to someone random virtually.

Some of the applications have robotic responses which cause a person to feel that their problem is not understood well and they will not a get solution to their problems as there is a lack of empathy. I have been facing digital issues where People have camera anxiety, they will not turn on their camera.

Not all people are of the same personality, those who are Kinesthetic feel discomfort to seek professional help online, or wait for offline consultation.

What about rural populations or areas with Connectivity issues?

Social isolation is also a major concern when it comes to online consultation for patients when a person is dealing with depressive thoughts or suicidal thoughts it becomes more important for them to have a face to face contact with a therapist so that they can feel confident that there is someone who is readily paying attention to them and they feel that they are getting personalized attention on one to one basis.

Moreover, people relate to a lot of mental health information on digital applications, resonate with themselves and feel overwhelmed and sometimes restless.

Overloading of a lot of information on online application portals for various mental disorders people may have easy access to it but when they end up trying certain therapies and techniques thinking that is the solution to their problem but they are not aware which is correct or whether it can be useful to them or not.

It is important that people consult professionals in order to have a better understanding and knowing what their issue is. Mental health is definitely one of those sectors of the profession where “Do It Yourself” cannot be practised.


6. Can you let us know anyone application of Digital Mental Health in your country which has impressed you?

Digital Applications are showered in India that are used for Mental health.

We have our own personalized set of recorded therapy which have been using as a part of therapeutic guidance and recommendation as per the client’s issues on case to case basis.

There can be many applications that are well designed and helps to understand the self-care requirements of an individual helping them boost their morals in a better way and as per one’s own language command.

Applications are many with self-care modules and there are certain tools that are designed to help identify the problem a person is facing such as anxiety, depression, stress and many more. It has also created self-help courses with simple instructions which can help an individual.

But I would suggest using these applications under strict professional guidance and in case they feel they are unable to help themselves through applications they should move to a professional for help. As in our country, the applications are yet on the developing stage and we need time to rely on digital aspects completely.


7. What are your tips for people who want to follow this profession?

It is rightly said that when your passion becomes your profession life no longer becomes boring. Mental health is not only a profession but it also is the way to serve mankind. I have always found myself to be very fortunate to have the profession that I am most passionate about. 

When someone decides to take this profession they have to understand that you have to be more human and that someone’s life lies in your hands. Apart from this it further has to be realized that in a country like India the subject is not discussed much nor does it have major acceptance.

Anyone working for the betterment of mental health and its awareness has to be vigilantly aware that you will not be able to speak about your work nor will people come and ever acknowledge that they have had help from your end.

The profession requires a part of you to be working efficiently but without gratitude. The people associated with mental health already know that we are working for a cause yet the profession is treated as non-existential.

The profession requires people who are passionate and are thinking about other people, if you wish to pursue psychology to become a psychologist you should have the zeal, the humanitarian touch and definitely the ability to empathize with people and be patient listeners to their hearts pouring conversation.

A key to being an effective and successful therapist is one who can see, listen and treat a client/patient with a non-judgemental approach.


8. What does your typical day look like? 

What do you like to do besides work? I believe in “Living one Day at a Time”…. So my day starts and ends with Gratitude. I have been practising 6 keys to my daily routine, apart from my working hours and family and regular learnings that I do.

My morning starts with Practising silence for 20 minutes, the second key is about balancing Exercise…., then mindful morning rituals followed my daily prayer with at least reading 3 pages of “ShrimadBhagwat Gitaji” before leaving for work each day…The third key is at work when “I am being observant for 20 minutes”, taking a timeout at work. Once I reach home from work, my 4th Key is I eat my last meal before 7.P.M. each day…

Then comes time for me to socialize with my family and society and recreate too, it has the 5thkey, and lastly the 6th and most important is before I sleep I count my blessings each day.

Life is to be seen as the individual purposes of our productive actions, and I enjoy each minute of my work…Besides working on mental health be it for an NGO, or other Forums I love to spend most of my time in nature bird watching, and stargazing with a telescope …and my inwards journey of awareness on exfoliating Spiritual paths in life.

Do pour your Heart into what you love…even if you feel most vulnerable….and see the magic happen.

- Interviewed by - Soumya Bhayana

This interview is sponsored by Plus91 Technologies, a leading Digital Health firm.