Photo by Claudia Wolff on Unsplash

Everyone has been in distress in 2020 so much so that 2020 has become synonymous with "panvati"/bad luck/distress.

The Covid/Lockdown cloud has a silver lining. Everything is available online. Doctors are available online. Psychiatrists are available online. 

Help lines, suicide lines, distress lines have always been available. Popularly, they were available by phone. For the past several years, online counselling, online therapy has become quite popular. 

Ideally, as infrastructure costs are quite low for online, the rates should have been less. But we hear of rates from Rs.500 per session/consultation to Rs.1500/3000 per session. The later rate is true for any health consultation.

Online counselling has the benefit of privacy (assuming you have privacy at home). You do not have to go out and wait your turn in a big queue.  Of course, face to face is best. Both the patient and the psychiatrist can pick up body signals, expressions, and so on. These may not be possible on a tiny mobile phone screen or a desktop monitor. 

Coming to the title, Net Shrink, it is a salute to one of my favourite "shrinks/psychiatrists" on Twitter.  Dr Soumitra Pathare is @netshrink  on Twitter.  His Twitter profile reads:

Director Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy ILS. Psychiatrist, innovation, mental health policy, law, human rights.

When a friend in Pune was looking for a face-to-face counsellor, someone recommended @netshrink!  Dr Soumitra Pathare recommended some Twitter handles for online consultations. Thought I would share them through this blog.

They're just a call away-

9922004305

9922001122

Available daily from 12 pm-8 pm (English, Hindi, Marathi)

Email - distressmailsconnecting@gmail.com

Linked In

iCALL Helpline / @iCALLhelpline

Psychosocial helpline by TISS

iCALL: 9152987821 - 10am-8pm

Email: icall@tiss.edu/

Mumbai, Maharashtra, 

Web: Indiaicallhelpline.org