1st National Mental Health Festival - by NIMHANS, NCBS, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies - starts in Bengaluru today

The mental health festival is being held at NIMHANS and NCBS in Bangalore from October 25-27. (Image via Pexels)

ADHD, anxiety, addictions, ageing, effects of chronic pain on mental health, burnout, women's mental health, men's mental health and building a dementia-friendly society are just some of the topics that doctors, scientists, mental health NGOs and various artistes will hope to unpack for the general public this weekend (October 25-27), in Bengaluru, as the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) along with Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies organize their first "national mental health festival" - Mannotsava - in the city. "The idea is to open up conversations in mental health to the public, and build a better bridge between science, academia, clinical practice and the community," Natasha Joshi, associate director, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, explains over video call. "That was the genesis of it."

The three-day festival will begin with a meeting of brain scientists, mental health researchers and students from India and abroad, at the NCBS. Days 2 and 3 will be marked by discussions, performances, installations and stalls on the NIMHANS Bengaluru premises. Entry is free, though some sessions may require prior registration.

The panel discussions on Day 2 include a conversation among NIMHANS doctors on addiction - "The Science and Human Stories Behind It". The day's program also includes a screening of the film Kathi Kathi Kaarana, followed by a discussion. Visitors can also see installations like Nanna Langa by Indu Antony of Namma Katte. The festival programme describes Nanna Langa as a "monumental 23-foot skirt woven with the intimate stories of 547 women... (that) celebrates the voices and experiences of women, inviting visitors to connect with their narratives."

Day 3 discussions include a session on mental health and higher education; and one on "Sports, Physical Activity and Mental Health". Day 3 will also see some workshops, including one on suicide prevention from 11 am-12.30 pm.

Asked what she's most excited about, Joshi says the sessions on healthy ageing, men's mental health and the ways in which that can be a gendered conversation and ADHD around which there's still very little awareness, interest her personally. "We haven't started thinking about ageing as a society because we think of ourselves as a young society. But we need to start thinking about it right now if we need to solve for it in another 10-15 years, when a lot of people will suddenly be old in India..."

"Of course, the conversation I am having with Dr Shyam Bhat (LiveLoveLaugh Foundation), I am quite excited about that... we are going to talk about an Indian way of thinking about psychotherapeutic," Joshi adds. Her conversation with Dr Bhat is on October 27, from 4.15-5.15 pm.

Among the installations, sessions and performances to see on Days 2 and 3 are a conversation with Rohini Nilekani, chairperson, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and cricketer Rahul Dravid (October 26, 4.30-6 pm); a theatre performance of Girish Karnad's Hayavadana by the Bhoomija Theatre Trust (Oct 27, 6-7.30 pm); and a session titled "Reel vs Real: The Changing Representation of Mental Health in Indian Cinema" on October 27 (12-15-1.30 pm).

In 2023, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies gave a five-year grant of Rs100 crore to NIMHANS and NCBS for their longitudinal study on five mental health conditions including schizophrenia and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). The study has been following an Indian cohort since 2016. The Department of Biotechnology and Pratiksha Trust supported the program for the first five years. The study is now being run by NIMHANS and NCBS at The Centre for Brain and Mind.

At the time of giving the grant, Rohini Nilekani had said: "The Centre for Brain and Mind hopes to build an ecosystem for the larger community of mental health practitioners. Its research on five critical disorders... will be open-sourced to allow more innovation in both academics and practice."

Joshi says, "When we signed the agreement to support that deep science research, we also said that we would like to take the opportunity of this three-way partnership to open up some of the (conversation)... Day 1 (of the mental health festival) is the entire neuroscience and brain research track which is happening at the NCBS, and that's where a lot of the scientists and researchers in this space are meeting. But tomorrow (October 26-27) is a much more public event because that has sessions which are targeted at building awareness, generating conversation and creating dialogue on issues that are more pertinent to everyday mental well-being."

Joshi says the festival will likely be an annual affair, at least until the grant period lasts. "It is going to be an annual conference for sure. It may keep evolving in terms of its scope and its angles and its focus, depending on whatever we see as the thing that needs responding to more urgently. But it is going to be an annual because that is part of the relationship that we have with these two institutions and that is a five-year relationship."

Further, while the festival is pegged as a "national" mental health event, there are no immediate plans to take it to other cities. "NIMHANS is a national institution, it just happens to be in Bangalore. And so is NCBS, which is also a national institution that happens to be in Bangalore. Our foundation also happens to be in Bangalore. So we are starting with Bangalore, and we may continue to keep this in Bangalore because it's nice to sort of have an institutional continuity in terms of the space as well. But we are having, in terms of attendance, people coming from all over India, lots of people coming from Delhi, Mumbai, and of course there is lots of people for Bangalore."

Mannotsava; National Mental Health Festival, from October 26-27, is at NIMHANS Convention Centre, Bengaluru. More information, visit https://www.nationalmentalhealthfestival.com/ ; https://www.nationalmentalhealthfestival.com/programme/ ; https://www.nationalmentalhealthfestival.com/stalls-and-installations/