“…And yes I did grovel. Tell her my career would be over before it began. That I have medical issues that I have to deal with for life. And those are expensive issues. But to use my illness as a crutch is stupid. But it’s not like it’s not relevant to this whole debacle.”“I’m taking therapy to reform myself."“Had been putting off seeking psychological help all these years,despite the numerous advices from these friends & others-for my own reasons of stubbornness & stigma. This should have been my top priority as soon as I noticed the patterns.I let my issues fester at cost to others.”The past week has been shocking, exhausting, infuriating, and eye-opening. With the #MeToo movement having gathered steam in our country with stories that hit closer to home, our conversations have factored in sexual assault, consent, power, and gender, like they have rarely done before. Hasty apologies have followed widespread accusations. But riding parallel to the shame of the #MeToo men has been their defense, with instances like those above making use of mental issues as a cop-out.Let’s step back a little. Public opinion surveys actually suggest that many think mental illness and violence are inextricably linked. A 2018 survey commissioned by The Live Love Laugh Foundation (TLLLF) on how India perceives mental health found that 44% of the respondents think that mental illness and violence go hand-in-hand. It’s time to debunk this claim.“Contrary to popular perception, research shows that mental health survivors are more likely to be at the receiving end of abusive behaviour than perpetrating it,” says Paras Sharma, a Bengaluru-based counselling psychologist . “What we are seeing right now on social media are behaviours that are enabled by patriarchal mindsets. Many of the accused do not even consider their actions as harassment/abuse and are resorting to defenses such as ‘casual flirting’, ‘banter’, ‘poor judgment’, ‘mixed signals’, and so on. This, in itself, shows that there isn’t even a basic acceptance of the fact that one’s behaviours can be seen as harassing or abusive.”To explore the problematic narrative coming out from those who would want us to see them as victims and not perpetrators, we delved deeper. This is what we learnt:Predatory Behaviour Has a Pattern
There’s a pattern that’s hard to miss in many of the accusations that have surfaced. The strong testimonies against MJ Akbar, Minister of State for External Affairs and former newspaper editor, highlight the kind of impunity men in powerful positions have in the allegations. “Specific to the last few days of allegations, most of these men who have been called out are well accomplished in their respective professions; so many instances of harassment have been within the context of the workplace or where these men were in a position of authority over the women they harassed/assaulted,” says Arjun Kapoor, a research associate at the Pune-based Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy.As you go through accounts on social media, there’s also an emphasis by the survivors on counting those men as their idols. “I grew up reading your smart opinions and dreamt of being as erudite as you. You were one of my professional heroes,” reads one account. It’s this perception that feeds the perpetrators’ ego. “There’s a lot of narcissism involved,” explains Dr. Dayal Mirchandani, psychiatrist and behavioural medicine expert. “Many of them are high-functioning narcissists and are not bothered about what havoc they cause in their family or to people around them. Many of them are charismatic—people come to admire them and find them special. And they use all that.”A natural course for all forms of abuse and harassment is eventually gaslighting. “It’s a part of their predation. It’s a way of building sympathy for themselves,” says Mirchandani. “They might tell the person who is often younger to them that they are lonely and their wife doesn’t care about them and only they can make that person happy. Paedophiles groom children in this manner. It’s only later that they realise that this is abuse. Sometimes, it’s not about naked power but about leading the person on and making them believe something else altogether.” Kapoor adds, “That’s [gaslighting] what many men often do because it’s an easy way to deny their own culpability and project it on the survivor to make them feel guilty or responsible for the situation.”Mental Illness Is Different From Sexually Predatory Behaviour
“If someone has severe mental illness like schizophrenia, they would also be dysfunctional in everyday life, and not be able to work in high positions,” says Mirchandani. “Usually, everyone around them knows that they are mentally ill. But predatory behaviour, on the other other hand, is just manipulative behaviour.”Sharma adds that the kind of emotional manipulation and calculated behavioural patterns that are typically shown by serial abusers aren’t behaviours someone with severe mental illness would be capable of. “Mental health is not a cause or enabler of predatory behaviour,” he says. “Patriarchy, however, can be. Someone who has been accused of predatory behaviour needs to reflect on the ways toxic masculinity (irrespective of their own gender) impacts the way they see and behave with others in the world. Therapy from a feminist lens that helps one understand one’s own toxic behaviours and unlearn them is what we feel can be the only helpful form of therapy. Else, therapy with sexual predators has been shown by research to have very poor results.”Mental Illness Must Come With a Diagnosis
The defense of mental illness that has surfaced in the apologies of the accused point to the fact that there is very little understanding of the laws that cover the condition. “It’s nonsense right away,” says Ishita Gupta, a Mumbai-based counselling psychologist at Breakthrough Counselling. “It cannot be something that drives you [to sexual misconduct]. I understand if you say things like, ‘I am getting therapy to reform myself’ but to use mental illness as a cause is not okay. One in three people you meet might be depressed, and you don’t see them using their symptoms as an excuse for any kind of behaviour,”To begin with, mental health illness is confirmed only when it is diagnosed. “If you look at the Mental Healthcare Act (2017), it clearly says that the determination of mental illness has to happen in accordance with internationally accepted medical standards,” says Kapoor.Mental Illness Cannot Absolve One of their Crimes
Under Section 84 IPC, a person is exonerated from liability for doing an act on the ground of unsoundness of mind if he, at the time of doing the act, is either incapable of knowing (a) the nature of the act, or (b) that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law.“Mental illness per se is not a defense for any unlawful or criminal act. The law allows for the defense of unsound mind and only a court of law can determine whether a person is of unsound mind. The Mental Healthcare Act makes it clear that if a person has a mental illness this does not mean they are of unsound mind. Similarly a person can be of unsound mind without having a mental illness. It is wrong to presume that persons with mental illness do not have the capacity to judge or assess the implications of their actions or decisions,” says Kapoor.But Mental Illness Can Be a Mitigating Factor in Defense
“Mental illness is a mitigating factor at the time of sentencing especially for prisoners who are on death row- what is relevant is the prisoner's mental health, psychosocial history, and material circumstances,” says Kapoor. But even then, that, in no way, absolves them of the crime or the act that they have committed.False Claims Are a Disservice to Those Actually Suffering
The stigma around mental health is still a reality in India, even if the Mental Healthcare Act (2017) has been instrumental in destigmatising mental conditions to a large extent. But, the kind of claims that have come up over the last few days have made us look at the Act—and the possible stigma arising hereafter—all over again. “I personally have a problem in imputing sexual predatory behaviour to a mental illness because it stigmatises persons with mental illness. Persons with mental illness are wrongly stereotyped as violent, sexual predators or dangerous. Sexual predatory behaviour is an outcome of men abusing their power and knowing they can get away with making sexual overtures to women because of the impunity they enjoy. This is very different from a case where a person with mental illness has a severe condition and is undergoing treatment for it," says Kapoor. Adds Gupta, “This is a disservice to people who actually have mental illnesses. Unless you have an illness that changes your chemistry and makes you harass or rape people—which I don’t think exists.”With inputs by Nandita Gupta and Sneha Nair.
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There’s a pattern that’s hard to miss in many of the accusations that have surfaced. The strong testimonies against MJ Akbar, Minister of State for External Affairs and former newspaper editor, highlight the kind of impunity men in powerful positions have in the allegations. “Specific to the last few days of allegations, most of these men who have been called out are well accomplished in their respective professions; so many instances of harassment have been within the context of the workplace or where these men were in a position of authority over the women they harassed/assaulted,” says Arjun Kapoor, a research associate at the Pune-based Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy.As you go through accounts on social media, there’s also an emphasis by the survivors on counting those men as their idols. “I grew up reading your smart opinions and dreamt of being as erudite as you. You were one of my professional heroes,” reads one account. It’s this perception that feeds the perpetrators’ ego. “There’s a lot of narcissism involved,” explains Dr. Dayal Mirchandani, psychiatrist and behavioural medicine expert. “Many of them are high-functioning narcissists and are not bothered about what havoc they cause in their family or to people around them. Many of them are charismatic—people come to admire them and find them special. And they use all that.”
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“If someone has severe mental illness like schizophrenia, they would also be dysfunctional in everyday life, and not be able to work in high positions,” says Mirchandani. “Usually, everyone around them knows that they are mentally ill. But predatory behaviour, on the other other hand, is just manipulative behaviour.”Sharma adds that the kind of emotional manipulation and calculated behavioural patterns that are typically shown by serial abusers aren’t behaviours someone with severe mental illness would be capable of. “Mental health is not a cause or enabler of predatory behaviour,” he says. “Patriarchy, however, can be. Someone who has been accused of predatory behaviour needs to reflect on the ways toxic masculinity (irrespective of their own gender) impacts the way they see and behave with others in the world. Therapy from a feminist lens that helps one understand one’s own toxic behaviours and unlearn them is what we feel can be the only helpful form of therapy. Else, therapy with sexual predators has been shown by research to have very poor results.”
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The defense of mental illness that has surfaced in the apologies of the accused point to the fact that there is very little understanding of the laws that cover the condition. “It’s nonsense right away,” says Ishita Gupta, a Mumbai-based counselling psychologist at Breakthrough Counselling. “It cannot be something that drives you [to sexual misconduct]. I understand if you say things like, ‘I am getting therapy to reform myself’ but to use mental illness as a cause is not okay. One in three people you meet might be depressed, and you don’t see them using their symptoms as an excuse for any kind of behaviour,”To begin with, mental health illness is confirmed only when it is diagnosed. “If you look at the Mental Healthcare Act (2017), it clearly says that the determination of mental illness has to happen in accordance with internationally accepted medical standards,” says Kapoor.Mental Illness Cannot Absolve One of their Crimes
Under Section 84 IPC, a person is exonerated from liability for doing an act on the ground of unsoundness of mind if he, at the time of doing the act, is either incapable of knowing (a) the nature of the act, or (b) that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law.“Mental illness per se is not a defense for any unlawful or criminal act. The law allows for the defense of unsound mind and only a court of law can determine whether a person is of unsound mind. The Mental Healthcare Act makes it clear that if a person has a mental illness this does not mean they are of unsound mind. Similarly a person can be of unsound mind without having a mental illness. It is wrong to presume that persons with mental illness do not have the capacity to judge or assess the implications of their actions or decisions,” says Kapoor.But Mental Illness Can Be a Mitigating Factor in Defense
“Mental illness is a mitigating factor at the time of sentencing especially for prisoners who are on death row- what is relevant is the prisoner's mental health, psychosocial history, and material circumstances,” says Kapoor. But even then, that, in no way, absolves them of the crime or the act that they have committed.False Claims Are a Disservice to Those Actually Suffering
The stigma around mental health is still a reality in India, even if the Mental Healthcare Act (2017) has been instrumental in destigmatising mental conditions to a large extent. But, the kind of claims that have come up over the last few days have made us look at the Act—and the possible stigma arising hereafter—all over again. “I personally have a problem in imputing sexual predatory behaviour to a mental illness because it stigmatises persons with mental illness. Persons with mental illness are wrongly stereotyped as violent, sexual predators or dangerous. Sexual predatory behaviour is an outcome of men abusing their power and knowing they can get away with making sexual overtures to women because of the impunity they enjoy. This is very different from a case where a person with mental illness has a severe condition and is undergoing treatment for it," says Kapoor. Adds Gupta, “This is a disservice to people who actually have mental illnesses. Unless you have an illness that changes your chemistry and makes you harass or rape people—which I don’t think exists.”With inputs by Nandita Gupta and Sneha Nair.