Ann Harikeerthan

History has the knack of forgetting women. One way is to not name them at all. More recently, I noticed another… I had just completed writing my book (no, not the one in the picture!) and I had to cross-check all the references. I had cited a good number of academic sources. But I hadn’t […]

My cousin and I, primary schoolers at the time, were dressed in velveteen clothes—him in a tiny suit, me in a tiny gown. We happily participated in our aunt’s wedding procession. After the ceremony, however, we were bawling, “Aunty is gone.” Though we were young, we could tell that the change—even though a happy one—meant

Ever since I left clinical practice, several people—particularly teenagers and those in their early twenties—have approached me and shared their stories and troubles with me. Something about my experience of being in a profession I did not like because of societal pressures and then deciding to quit to pursue my passion seemed to resonate with

When two things happen together, we sometimes conclude that one caused the other. I had made such an assumption about time and healing. In something I wrote, I mentioned the idiom, “Time heals all wounds”. That was spotted by Dr. Valson Thampu, who kindly mentors me, and he gave me the example of Miss Havisham,

I live with a neurological condition called migraine. It is a common malady, especially among women, that shows up with a variety of symptoms ranging from headaches and loss of focus, even to seeing, hearing and feeling things that are not actually there. My experience with migraine was at its worst in 2019. I had

A psychiatrist whom I had a conversation with a few months ago said, “Not everyone wants to heal. Some people choose to suffer. They might even enjoy it, so much so that if they were given a choice, they would refuse to heal.” His statements annoyed me. It seemed both stupid and unrealistic to think

There’s something other-worldly about the body. It is like a fantastical building which, after being attacked and cracked by the elements of nature, works very hard to try to patch itself up. On being hurt, the body heals – at least, that is so if the damage isn’t so extensive as to result in death.

In a previous article, I wrote that the healing process is a partnership. Healing usually seems to automatically spring forth from inside of us – at least, as long as we are in vigorous health. However, at the same time, we have the capacity to assist the healing process by distancing ourselves from what harms

After working with thousands of abusive men, Lundy Bancroft wrote a book titled Why Does He Do That? In it, he documents his insights into the way abusers think. He explains that most abusive people are not psychologically abnormal. And most of them do feel emotions such as remorse and guilt. So, how do they