Preface

This book began at a family table. When I was in the ninth standard, my elder sister, Anuradha Chaudhary, wanted to study psychology, and we talked for hours about what the mind does, why people suffer and why some recover. Later the table grew to include friends from many Indian states and other countries. The longest classroom has been home: my wife, Dr. Poonam Zope, is a doctor and a psychiatrist, and almost every difficult page here has been argued, checked and made kinder at our kitchen table.

Psychology and psychiatry are vast, and good information is scattered across manuals, clinics, languages and paywalls. This series tries to be one calm door: enough for an ordinary reader to recognise strain, speak about it accurately, and know when to ask for help. If these pages help one person ask for care a week earlier, they have done their work.

The book is offered as a gift. I was brought up to believe, as millions of families are, that knowledge is not goods: a teacher gave, a student listened, and what was learned was handed on. Mental health knowledge should travel freely. The full text is free at psychologyforeveryone.in, and printed copies are offered free or at minimal cost. You may read, copy, print, translate and share it. I ask only that you keep the safety information with any copy, say so if you adapt it, and credit the sources named in the book.

The verses keep the science company; they never replace it. Most come from Hindu and other Indian traditions because that is my own inheritance, and a reader of any faith or none can pass over them without missing any of the psychology. Nor is this book a substitute for a professional. Doctors, psychologists, counsellors and nurses train for years and deserve to be paid fairly for their skill. Read this book as a friend who tells you what the sign on the door says. The doctor is inside. The plan, compilation and design of this book are mine, and so are its mistakes. AI tools helped with formatting, illustrations, reference checks; that is said here so that no reader is misled.

My thanks go to the scholars, clinicians and researchers whose work is summarised here; to the World Health Organization, national mental-health institutes and the volunteers who answer helpline phones at night; to the authors of the classical works quoted in these pages; and to the readers, relatives and clinicians who sent corrections, stories and encouragement.

If a quotation is misaligned, a fact has moved on, or a page could be kinder or clearer, please write to myadvisorfriend@gmail.com. Every letter will be read as help.

Satish Zope

All 35 chapters · 183 stories from real life · 61 Hindu shloks for the mind · Psychology for Everyone – A Mental Well Being Series