Mannotsava Day 1 Recap

With rising awareness, especially since COVID, there’s been a surge in positive mental health conversations, especially in urban areas like Bengaluru. ‘Mannotsava’, a National Mental Health Festival by Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies with NIMHANS: Leading the Way for Mental Health and Neuro Sciences and National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) , stands out as one of the most impactful mental health events in recent times!

Having been part of this journey early on, I saw firsthand the thoughtful planning involved. In August, a detailed Google form was sent to various NGOs for workshops, panels, and stall suggestions. It was no surprise then that I found myself facing a jam-packed agenda! With up to four events happening simultaneously, the struggle of choosing sessions to attend was real, FOMO and all.

For those who missed out, the newly renamed ‘Zen and Now’ (formerly RediscoverUwithV) newsletter is here to share highlights from this first-ever Mannotsava!

Understanding ADHD

ADHD is one of the overdiagnosed mental health conditions both in children and adults. This session focused on what is likely to be ADHD, what is not, and why diagnosing ADHD is important for both age groups.

Both the panelists mentioned that ADHD is problematic within the context. For example, in children, ADHD may not be a major concern until academic pressure increases and the child is struggling with focus or attention. If diagnosed as a child, they might be trained to work around their symptoms, which is a handy skill for them to have to thrive in real world situations. In adults, they have already gained a certain level of adaptability, therefore a diagnosis helps mostly in explaining why they feel a certain way. Online or self-diagnosis with social media attention might make people with severe ADHD feel invalidated.

For children with ADHD, stimulants or ADHD medication will have a better impact, as they will ensure their mental development is not impacted by their symptoms. In adults, medication may have less efficacy, and it may be better to have behavioral interventions. The parting question by the panelist was super thought provoking – “Is it really a disorder, or are we evolving to multi-task in an over stimulating environment?”

Towards a Dementia Friendly Society

This event was at the same time as ‘Women’s Mental Health’ and ‘Men’s Mental Health’ sessions. Unsurprisingly, there were very few in the audience, mostly over 60. The panelist started by saying, “Mental health in children, young adults, and adults get a lot of traction, but unfortunately, mental health in the elderly doesn’t get a lot of traction.”

This is sad because 45% of risk factors for dementia are modifiable, and if we start working on those from a young age, our dementia chances might reduce drastically. According to Lancet Commission’s 2024 report the following were some of the risk factors that are modifiable –

Early Life – Low literacy is a common modifiable risk factor

Mid Life – Hearing issues, LDL cholesterol levels, Depression, Physical Inactivity, Social isolation, Air pollution, and Uncorrected visual loss are all dementia risk factors that can be altered to improve chances against dementia

Though there is no cure for Dementia, early diagnosis vastly increases symptom management and greatly increases the quality of life in individuals.

Sandwich Generation

This was a fun workshop to break the seriousness of the panels. The facilitators quoted Charlie Chaplin – “Life is a tragedy up close but comedy when you step back”. This thought permeated throughout their workshop. It was nice to laugh at ourselves and our situation!

Their ‘Sandwich Years Bingo’ was a laugh riot and I left resonating with their request to replace our response to our parents or children with “Yes, and” not “No, but”.

Invisibilisation of Mental Disabilities

I had to come to this panel a bit late due to the previous workshop but I am glad I did, because they were talking about how caregivers are usually invisible patients who don’t receive the support they need.

They also highlighted that people from natural disaster regions like frequent floods are likely to have mental health symptoms. For example, women in Assam regularly have mental health symptoms two weeks before flood season.

Finally, they left the audience wondering about the extent of their own stigma towards mental health with these questions – “Would you invite someone with a verbal tic to a bhajan at your house?” or “Would you date someone with a mental health issue?”

Keynote with Rohini Nilekani and Rahul Dravid

This was an amazing conversation and more than summarising what was discussed, I am going to just highlight some amazing quotes from the speakers –

“Differentiate what you do from who you are” – to navigate failures.

“Define your own success and don’t fall into the trap of what others create as your success”

“You can’t solve all problems but you can listen”

“Find multiple criteria for success – don’t keep just one goal. Don’t postpone your happiness on that one goal”

“We’ve started seeing women as providers now, but we also need to see men as nurturers”

“Grace is a choice” – with success or failure! 

It was nice to see the easy banter among all three participants and hear what motivates them, along with what works or doesn’t work in their own personal lives!

What’s Plaguing the GenZ

This was such a lively session to end the day with! The panelist turned the format on its head making it more of an open conversation with the audience.

It’s so nice to see that GenZ is willing to stand up for what they believe is right. At the same time, they are plagued by concerns about trusting others, as they feel they are constantly let down by others who break their trust. Building trust in themselves and forgiving themselves when their trust in others is broken.

It’s perfectly okay for GenZ to be on social media—there’s no turning back from it. The key is to maintain a balance between online experiences and real-life interactions, ensuring that social media doesn’t become the only source of validation. As long as likes and followers don’t replace genuine self-worth, social media use remains healthy.

It was interesting to hear people talk about GenZ relationship and the only time I felt they are a totally different generation when I heard words like love bombing, bread crumbing, zombieing etc. It did highlight that GenZ feels lonelier even in a relationship.

To truly understand GenZ, it’s essential to recognize that while many people emphasize the importance of emotional vulnerability, there’s still a significant lack of acceptance when individuals actually express that vulnerability.

Even with only a third of the events attended, I took away a wealth of knowledge. Looking forward to revisiting more through recordings and sharing Day 2 insights in the next newsletter post!

#Mannotsava #ZenAndNow #MentalHealthMatters #FestivalRecap #Zensible