M.

A Part 1
Cognitive Psychology CIE 3
By: Chaitanya Bakwad
 Interview with a mental health professional

Name: Dr. Sandeep Mahamuni

Age: 42
Education/Qualification: M.B.B.S DPM (Psychological Medicine), I.C.H.G.C.P,
C.B.T Workshops.
Work Experience: 15 years.
Current Profile: Psychiatrist / Prison Psychiatrist, Secretary at Pune Mental
health association.

Q1. How did you choose the field of

Psychology/Psychiatry?

. Basically, immediately after my M.B.B.S I was working with a Psychiatrist in Mumbai as his
assistant that’s when I realised my core interest for the field of Psychiatry, So when I got the
opportunity in entrance, I opted for Psychiatry.

Q2. Why did you choose the field of

Psychology/Psychiatry?

. After my M.B.B.S I did not wanted to go for any emergency branch like gynaecology,
medicine, I.C.U, there is emergency in these fields and you may be required at any given
point of time, and I wanted a bit easy going routine where there is not a lot of pressure and
also I was passionate about the field of mental health.
Q3. How fulfilling do you feel the practice of
Psychiatry is for you?

. A lot! As I got to experience a vide area of the field of psychiatry, right from being into
research to being a prison psychiatrist it feels very fulfilling, treating a patient and helping
someone who is depressed and guiding him through his life is fulfilling in itself, being
associated with a lot of different institutes, hospitals makes the schedule hectic sometimes
but in the end when it comes to dealing with the patient and helping them it’s always
fulfilling.

Q4. Challenges and obstacles that you face as a

psychiatrist.

. The number of health professionals are very few, like in the central prison there should at
least be two or three mental health professionals but I am the only one who is handling the
cases there so at times it becomes difficult to manage.

Q5. How do you overcome the challenges that you

face in day to day life in your practice?

. I try to train people so they can be of help to me, for example a General nurse who is in the
hospital, I will train her in psychiatry so she can help me in psychiatric nursing, so my work
load is divided, and I also take care of my mental health as well by giving time to my family,
keeping myself busy in recreational activities etc.
Q6. How is the actual practice different from the
education?

. There is a lot of difference between the educational life and practical life, unless you don’t
work you don’t realise the actual situation, of course education is very important as you
should have your base knowledge about the subject but at the same time everything cannot
be taught in the classroom there are certain limitations to that and ultimately you need to
groom yourself and for that you need to take your own experiences, and you can only gain
experience when you start working in your field interact with people.

Q7. How much was the theoretical education actually

useful in real world?

. Theoretical education is important, without that we cannot survive because you must
know about all the different mental health problems and their symptoms because if that is
not there how will you know what type of problem the patient is going through? Without
the theory knowledge you cannot do much, but at the same time I would say that
theoretical and practical education is something that should go hand in hand, one should
not rely too much on theory or practical, one should keep on studying and practicing, when
you are studying in the classrooms you should go out for field visits and you should be able
to implement that knowledge in real life situations.

Q8. How is the actual world of practice different from

the expectations one has during their student life?

. It’s a difficult question I must say, because you never know what’s there in the store,
because if you see when I was a student I never imagined that I would be working in the
prison and I had a roommate who is now working in America another fellow is working in
Australia, and you never know what the future holds for you, so I would say you should not
expect much, your idea should be clear that you want to work in the mental health field and
you are there to help people and in a way you are giving back to the society.
Q9. What are the reasons a person may relapse?

. It’s a complicated question because there are so many dynamics involved into it, if you
take addiction, substance abuse, relapse is the rule rather than exception, will multiple
relapses over a period of time the person recovers, at the same time it is not necessary that
this will be the case with everybody but this is something that generally happens, and when
it comes to anxiety, depression with varying degree there is always a chance of relapse,
there are a lot of factors which also come into consideration as to how likely the person
might relapse, factors such as the educational background of the person weather he is
literate or illiterate, the persons awareness for mental illness or his family’s views and how
well they accept mental illness, regularity of the patient also plays a big role as patients
often discontinue the treatment instead of sticking to one course they try all sorts of
methods like Ayurveda, homeopathy but as per my knowledge there’s no definitive
treatment for psychiatric disorders in homeopathy or Ayurveda. There are many reasons.

Q10. Three advices that you would like to give to

aspiring Psychologists/Psychiatrists

. As I said earlier I would say it again, while you are studying theory simultaneously at the
same time you should try and put that knowledge to practice and your practical and
theoretical education should both go hand in hand, you should go for visits, meet mental
health professionals and take that first-hand experience, only studying will not help.
. Don’t run behind money, ultimately it’s your passion that should drive you to work in this
field, if you run behind money you will be unhappy, the field of mental health is may not be
as rewarding as you think when it comes to money in the initial days and you should not
come with high expectations related to making money so you should keep that in mind and
be ready with that, initially you will have to struggle, today there is struggle everywhere but
I believe in psychology it is more as compared to other fields, so you should be ready for
that, but most importantly you should be passionate and determined about working in this
felid then only you will be able to work and truly feel satisfied.
. Don’t stop educating yourself no matter what point in your life, you should always remain
a student and keep on learning and gathering knowledge, that is how you will keep on
getting better and become an expert at what you do.