International Conference on Schizophrenia organised by SCARF gets under way in city

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Natarajan Varadharajan, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, receiving the STELAR Award at the 12th edition of the conference on Thursday. | Photo Credit: SRINATH M.

The 12 th edition of the three-day International Conference on Schizophrenia organised by the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) was inaugurated on Thursday.

At the launch of the conference, Natarajan Varadharajan, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, received the first STELAR Award from Darez Ahamed, Health Secretary to the Tamil Nadu government; Ashoo Grover, Scientist G, Indian Council of Medical Research; and R. Thara, co-founder, SCARF.

Mr. Ahamed said mental health was a critical component of any health system, alongside priorities such as maternal and child health that feature in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Tamil Nadu has a robust District Mental Health Programme and psychiatry departments in medical colleges, but the larger challenge is to deliver mental health services at the population level, much like maternal and child health services , he said.

Stressing the need to integrate mental health into the broader health system, the State’s recent Budget had addressed the issue at the policy level, and that efforts were extending beyond the district-level approach, he said.

Ashoo Grover said that while India had made progress in tackling communicable diseases, the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) remained a major challenge for the healthcare system.

NCDs are usually discussed in terms of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, while mental health is often considered separately. However, she said, recent data showed a high prevalence of mental health conditions across age groups, highlighting the need to address them as part of the broader NCD burden.

Matcheri S. Keshavan, Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, the U.S., delivered the 6 th Dr. Sarada Menon Oration on cognition as a core aspect of schizophrenia. Among those present were R. Seshasayee, chairman, SCARF; T.S. Sathyanarayana Rao, president, Indian Psychiatric Society; and Mohan Isaac, professor of psychiatry, University of Western Australia.

Earlier in the day, a discussion was held on whether the name schizophrenia must be changed. Experts from different segments – psychiatrists, care givers, people with lived experiences and media persons – participated, making an effective case for both sides of the argument. The broad consensus was that a nomenclature change can be made once there are significant inroads made into understanding the condition.

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