The six diverse topics covered in this MSM Annual 2004 are an attempt to present to the contemporary thinking mind some of the major concerns of our society today. They include topics in the four areas of Psychiatry, Science, Religion and Health. Psychiatry is important since it concerns psychopathology of the human mind and living. Resolving them would mean laying the foundations of correct thought and appropriate action. Science is important because this age belongs to it, and therefore there is the challenge, as also the danger, that this age maybe usurped by it. That is possible because the interests of Science and Man may clash, and the former may supercede the latter. Religion is important because faith, the cornerstone of religion, plays a great role in guiding man’s thinking and actions. And anything that guides can also overwhelm and misguide. That thin dividing line which cannot be transgressed needs to be clearly demarcated by the contemporary rational mind. Health is important because it is often taken for granted, and its true value realised only after it is lost. Moreover, health is as much an individual as a social concern.
This volume, a collection of six monographs published between May 2003 and April 2004, covers a wide expanse of stimulating material for the reader interested in deeper understanding of issues which concern man and society today, as both grope forward in search of understanding and nodal points for concerted action.
Psychiatry, Science, Religion and Health is dedicated to the memory of esteemed Psychiatrist Prof. L.P. Shah.
About the Authors :
Ajai R. Singh, M.D. is a Psychiatrist who has earlier worked with the WHO Collaborating Center in Psychopharmacology in India.
Shakuntala A Singh, Ph.D., is Reader and Head, Department of Philosophy, Joshi-Bedekar College, Thane, India. She has earlier been a Fellow of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research.
They are founders of the Mens Sana Research Foundation, India.