Suchana Seth case | Dr Harish Shetty: ‘You can’t have a trillion-dollar economy without good mental health of people’

Dr Harish Shetty, psychiatrist at Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital Mumbai (left); Suchana Seth, the 39-year-old chief executive officer of Artificial Intelligence company Mindful AI Lab, with her son whom she has allegedly killed.

How can a mother kill her own son? What drove Suchana Seth — a data scientist, an apparent fellow at Harvard University, a woman who made it to the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics list, the CEO of AI startup Mindful AI Labs — to kill her four-year old son? That’s the question that has gripped the collective consciousness of the nation. Renowned psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty believes these are warning bells for things to come in the future. Single lives, loneliness and the pressure cooker environment in towns and cities are leading to angst and violence.

Edited excerpts from an interview:

The Suchana Seth case has truly numbed and horrified the nation. What do you make of it?

It’s happening all over country. In August last year a woman separated from her husband went to his home, killed the 4-year-old daughter to implicate in-laws. A 33-year-old woman jumped to death with her 6-month-old baby from the 16th floor of high rise in Greater Noida. We are in the midst of a mental health epidemic. A lot of people live lonely lives in a pressure cooker environment. This is a warning bell, a metaphor for the events to come in the future.

Unfortunately, these issues are not creating a furore in the parliament or in the legislative assembly. You can’t have a trillion-dollar economy without good mental health of the people. The sad part is that these issues are not taken as seriously as buying Rafale (marine fighters) or building a temple or a masjid. Prime minister Modi spoke about mental health in his Mann Ki Baat programme. But it’s not enough. You can’t wait till hundreds die. If you can pre-empt an infection why can’t you pre-empt mental health problems and prevent it. Mental health is too important to be left to mental health professionals alone. We need a movement not a campaign.

In the case of Suchana Seth, could she be going through a specific mental health issue?

Difficult to say. Since I have not examined her, it would be unfair to comment. She should be investigated. But I would use this a warning sign for all the politicians and policy makers to understand that it can happen inside their house.

The fact that it’s a mother who has done this has shocked the nation.

In my experience of decades, mothers generally protect their children while stressed and during a family conflict. Irritability, rage and violence can be a sign of mental illness provoked by genetic factors, severe stress and difficult life situations. Another mother a senior corporate professional in fighting a divorce wanted to jump down when she was abused by her husband and son. Her friends from a what's app support group that I started years ago rushed to help, calmed her down and she is alive. Wanting to kill or die can be a consequence of emotional blinding in a pressure cooker world where healthy emotions die and rage, revenge are thoughts that supervene. I do not know what happened to this lady but I would request everyone on this state to just make a call to a friend or relative before acting.

The woman in question is a CEO of a AI company, an apparent fellow at Harvard University, a woman who made it to the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics list.

That’s the thing, you pay attention only when a CEO does this. What happens when a 11 year old from a slum commits suicide. Even lopsided media attention is causing a lot of distraught. It’s exaggerating the pain of the rich but it happens 10 times more among the poor.

There was a bitter custody battle involved in this. Should the courts conduct a psychological assessment of the parents before handing over custody?

The courts are already doing that. I am referred custody kids by marriage courts and high court in Maharashtra. It’s not the custody battles but the loneliness and agony around those issues that’s the problem. Family courts are very lonely and traumatic place and the laws around custody battles are very slow. If a husband/wife is asked to give access to the other spouse, the wife/husband will poison the child’s mind and not allow them to go to the other parent. And if you don’t give access, the law can't enforce the same in most of the cases. Most couples believe that they need to teach the other person a lesson. That’s the most common motivation.

So, what can be done in such a situation?

Anganwadi and other healthcare workers who go home to home to screen for malaria, dengue, typhoid and pox should also be trained to screen for mental health and suicide. It’s not expensive and can be done at the same cost. It’s also alarming that corporates have not woken up to all this. They have mission statement, vision statement but no inclusive mental health policy. They have become too harsh. People like Narayana Murthy saying that people should work 70 hours a week is not helping matters. Every workplace employee needs to be screened for distress and the confidentiality maintained.

In these cases are there warning signs that we could have looked for?

One hundred per cent. Seth is a CEO and there would have been some warning signs in the office. But sometimes depression is invisible and one can block all those warning signs. You might appear very normal externally. But what’s important to look out is if the person is quiet, irritable, very secluded, not attending office, talking about existential crisis like there is no point in living, etc. But the sad part is that nobody cares in the guise of privacy. In India we encroach on other people’s privacy and we should continue doing it.

Dr Harish Shetty’s tips to deal with mental health

• Keep in touch with all your friends and family. Never overestimate the psychological resilience of your own kith and kin and friends. Whenever you feel something is wrong, call your friend. The pre-role that a friend can play is to break the confidentiality and push the person to seek help, even if that makes the person angry.
• Do a mental health check regularly.
• If you are thinking about suicide, experiencing stress, are worried about a friend or loved one, or would like immediate emotional support, reach out to these helplines right away:

iCALL Psychosocial Helpline: 022-25521111/ +91 9152987821 (Monday to Saturday, 8 AM to 10 PM)

Samaritans Mumbai: +91 84229 84528 (everyday 4-10 pm)

Sangath Helpline: 011 41198666