[Reader-list] Voices Unheard

[Gitika Talwar]

 Dear Arshad

Thank you for choosing an extremely interesting topic for research, and also
for visibilising the mental health status in Kashmir. It is likely to be
extremely beneficial for many people who are concerned about mental health
services (both mainstream and otherwise) and their impact in dealing with
mental illness.

There are a few questions about your study that I MUST ask though:

1) What role does confidentiality play in your study? are the names you
provide, real names ? if they are real names, do the subjects know you will
be providing these names on a public list ?

2) Is there a way by which you could veil the identities of those you
interview? Especially in the context of a society that fiercely guards its
mental health and mental illness status, perhaps methods to obtain data and
yet assure confidentiality will help you

3) I am curious also about whether volunteering at a hospital could help
you. You might learn a lot through observation too, also people might get
the chance to trust you because they have seen you around.

4) What do the subjects get from you for telling you their stories? I often
wonder, when I do research as well, why anyone must tell me their story
unless they have something to gain -- be it catharsis or some other goal
such as 'better treatment', anything. Have you had a chance to think about
it?

5) How do you go about finding subjects as of now? What method do you
follow? I mean how do you decide who to interview and how do you convince
people to sit for an interview. In case you have mentioned methodology
before, please could you paste just that part again.

Hope to hear from you soon,

All the best for your project!

Warmest Regards,

Gitika Talwar
Programme Associate
Bapu Trust - Center for Mental Health Advocacy and Research
www.camhindia.org
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