Anshul Goel

Battling Injustice is an authentic record of women’s cultural history, told through the lives of some of the most remarkable women since modernity. This book encompasses the story of 16 Women Nobel Peace Laureates in all its glory. The book takes you on a journey to view the lives of these women warriors who had too many downs than ups in their lives but yet never stopped. You feel as if you are being transported back to those years in which all the struggle happened. You feel you were one among them fighting the wrong and moving towards bringing back the right. You are made to realize that these women were someone like us but they chose to fight for humanity unlike many of us who are just thinking of doing something with our mundane lives. It wasn’t easy for them to achieve these enormous fleets alongside the lives they had to continue living but they were supported by their friends, family and the huge amount of supporters, supporters of peace, love, empathy and care. This book makes you feel the warm rays of the sun on a cold winter night and what more could be needed to change your vision and perspective towards the harsh life. These warriors knew no bounds when it came to restoring peace and stability back at their place. They fought ferociously, were tortured and jailed and even attempted to be killed but who had the power to set these suns of peace and life! One thing I learned reading their struggles is that if their family is supportive and loving then no one can even dare to break them. They are the embodiment of hope and faith which we must never let go of. The role of men in their lives too is of much significance whether they are fathers, brothers, children or their own husbands, if they support her than no one can stop them from changing the world. This is the kind of support which we need to shower them with. The stories of struggle of all the 16 Nobel Peace Laureates has a lot to offer to the reader. The reader won’t feel the same about women again. They would know what is takes to be a women and to fight like one. The struggles are inspiring, motivating and extremely powerful. This book will change your mindset regarding gender quality and will force you to accept that women are more powerful, tolerant and enduring then man can ever be and this I say not to belittle men but to make them aware that yes that’s the rock hard truth. It has been a very long fight for women to be given the access to basic human rights and now that the warriors have done it they deserve all the respect. With this I congratulate the author for such a wonderful work which truly shows the hard work and efforts put behind making it what it is in all its entirety.

This book is not a self help book but a book which explicitly states the necessary facts, theories, models, history and the basic understanding of psychology. The book is divided into 6 sections each dealing with a different topic ranging from the history of the subject to defining mental health along with its understanding and the various types of mental disorders like Schizophrenia, Depression, Anxiety Disorders etc. The author has beautifully explained the concepts of mental health and stigma related to it and that too in a lucid manner. He has talked about how little is being spent by the governments on promoting mental health which has led to an exponential increase in mental illnesses across the world. But many are unable to identify the illness due to lack of knowledge and the stigma attached to them and thus struggle to live their lives each day. Also he has stated the enormous statistics of the future prevalence rates of these mental illnesses if no steps are taken to promote mental health awareness. He has also discussed in detail on the topics of resilience, emotional intelligence, prejudice, stereotypes, influences and stigmatization among others. He has explained how it feels to be suffering silently from the mental illnesses. The patient often is shunned from the society and seen as an outcast because people start associating the disorder with the person and they just can’t seem to differentiate between the person and the illness which has now led to an exponential increase in the number of suicidal attempts and suicidal deaths. He has also explained why one needs to stop romanticizing the illnesses by making them seem to be desirable or beautiful as this leads to further increase in misunderstanding about the disorders. Also, not everything a person experiences negatively can be labelled as a disorder as there are proper clinical symptoms and diagnostic criterias to diagnose a disorder as mentioned in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Hence one should not start labelling someone with a disorder until s/he is clinically diagnosed with it. It is high time we all stop stigmatizing the disorders and instead become more sensitive towards the ones suffering from mental illnesses as they are really fighting for their lives each day. They need your love, care, support and attention to accept their own selves. They face severe stress and trauma due to the society’s unrealistic expectations and wants from them. Media can play a huge role in bringing about a change in the current situation by promoting mental health awareness campaigns worldwide and especially in a country like ours, India. The government needs to understand and accept the crisis like situation and to take steps in order to heal the damage. This cannot be done without the support of each and every one of us who must realize that its high time that we take action in order to contain the situation that worsens each day. I request each and everyone of you to read this book at least once. I promise to you that it would answer all your questions and doubts with regards to mental health and why is it so important in today’s times.