Some Hindu Beliefs for the Young

Dr Shyamala Vatsa is a medical doctor and psychiatrist based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. She lives with her husband, and their two adult children have long flown the nest. Over the years, she has written extensively on mental health to raise awareness and challenge stigma. In 2012, she contributed a fortnightly column to the newspaper DNA, demystifying common mental illnesses and emphasizing that these conditions often have biological roots—and that there is no shame in seeking help. In 2016, she wrote a series of articles for the mental health platform White Swan Foundation, aimed at helping readers recognize signs of mental illness in adolescents, so that genuine cases would not be dismissed as typical teenage behaviour. She is the author of A Little Book for the Hindu Child (2005) and Invisible Patterns (2008), both of which explain the basic tenets of Hinduism in ways that resonate with a child’s life and understanding. She has been blogging on topics related to mental health and general interest since 2012. Her blog can be found at drshyamalavatsa.wordpress.com.