NEW DELHI: Doordarshan’s cultural channel DD Bharati has commenced the telecast of Mann ki Matters (Mind Matters), a seventy-eight episode series on mental health awareness and stigma reduction which earlier had successful runs on both DD National as well as DD India.

The series in Hindi was made by Mind Vision Enterprises, developed by Dr Avdesh Sharma (consultant psychiatrist) and Dr Sujatha Sharma (consultant clinical psychologist) for DD National, reaching about 95 per cent television households in India. The series was beamed to about 140 countries all over the world. 

The series consists of episodes of in-depth discussion of a particular issue with experts in the field and an in house expert, computer graphics for take home points, case stories and interviews with international and national experts. The topics are relating to Mental Health and Psychosocial Issues laying emphasis on self-help, early intervention, social support, holistic management and relapse prevention. The series involves inputs of more than 100 mental and social health experts.

The series is slated to start from 17 February everyday at 12 midnight, 8 am and 4 pm. Each day would have a new episode. Various subjects will be covered including solutions of stress relating to society, children at home and school, adolescence with parents, adolescence with peers and so on; managing negative emotions; abnormal behaviours and mental illness; myths of mental illness; stigma of psychological issues like anxiety, fears and phobias (Social phobias), depression and suicide, psychosomatic illnesses; psychology of pain; sleep and dreams; tobacco and smoking; alcohol and drugs; and addictions of internet/gaming/chatting/social networking.