Counselling slowly losing insanity tag in India

By Jennifer Robin Raj

BANGALORE (Reuters Life!) - Raju was having difficulty controlling his anger and turned to a counsellor for help, an unusual step in India which ran him the risk of being branded insane.

As India's economy booms and pressures in the workplace increase, the taboos associated with therapy are slowly lifting, and experts say the introduction of corporate-sponsored counselling services are helping drive the change.

While commonplace in the West, going into counselling, or even talking about it, is still a touchy issue in this largely conservative society where marriage arrangements have been known to fall apart at even the hint of mental strain and counselling only acceptable from elders or religious leaders.

"Friends and colleagues keep wondering what problems I have that I (need to) go for counselling, for they find me perfectly fine," said the 30-year-old Raju, who is candid about going to a company counsellor but who preferred not to give his full name.

Called employee assistance programmes (EAPs), the corporate services are intended to increase productivity and reduce job attrition by helping workers deal with personal problems that might impact their work performance, health and well-being.

Most of the companies that offer EAPs are in the IT sector, including call centers and offshore support services that have mushroomed in Bangalore. These firms are often mandated by their global headquarters to offer the service for Indian employees.

"Some are aware of the need. Some are doing it because it is an instruction given to them. They might not be so convinced," said Karuna Baskar, director of 1to1help.net, an online firm that offers counselling to employees of several companies.

"Some do think counselling is a Western import. They think it is not needed here."