Abstract:

               Psychology as a science in the West evolved out of philosophy. In India, when psychological science was ‘implanted’, it has not fully got separated from Indian philosophy. At the same time Indian psychologistshad not explored different schools of Indian philosophy to delineate the psychological concepts. Psychologists from abroad showed more interest on these concepts and they developed different application strategies likenon violence communication, mindfulness meditation and mindfulness based interventions. In 1992 and 2003 the difficulties experienced by psychologists in identifying and conducting research on Indian Psychological concepts were explored. Apart from language and tendency to equate with religion, five attitudinal effects that blocked the researchers were found. Conflicts in seven areas related to unity-diversity, science-philosophy, specific-integrative, technique-theory, clinical conditions-therapy, experimental-experiential, quantitative-qualitative, publish-silence and stagnant-vibrant were observed in the research publications. Four steps for future action proposed were to Accept, Enquire, Identify, Explore, Maintain, Persist and Communicate Modify. Changes are reflected in the considerable increase in the number of publications related to Indian psychological concepts. However, adapting a paradigm shift in the concept of person and developing innovative methods that can assess the connectedness drawn from through interdisciplinary approach may help bring out the potential of the ‘silent mesmerism of Indian thought’.

L. S. S. Manickam, is Professor of clinical psychology, J S S University, Mysore and Honorary Director, CAPS, Thiruvananthapurm. He obtained his Masters in Psychology from University of Kerala, did his clinical psychology training from NIMHANS Bangalore and Ph.D in 1992.
He has taught at the Department of Psychiatry, Christian Medical College Vellore, CSI Medical College Karakkonam and served as the Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology at Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai before moving to Mysore. He has also served as a VisitingFellow at the University of Birmingham, UK and as a Gestalt Trainer in Nigeria. He has been associated with different governmental and non-governmental organizations and served as resource person in the areasof alcohol and drug management, sexual health counseling training and psychosocial support in different disasters, as well as a research consultant in UNDP and WHO projects. The leadership he gave whileresponding to the needs of the Service Personnel at the time of Tsuanmi at the Air Force Station Chennai was lauded by the IAF. He has published more than 60 research papers in journals and 10 book chapters.He can be reached at: