Dr. Arpita Gupta

Arpita comes from Ajmer – a small town in Rajasthan. Her interest in clinical psychology brought her to Delhi where she earned her BA (Honours) degree in Psychology in 2008 from Daulat Ram College at the University of Delhi. During a summer internship, she witnessed the world of people living with psychosis from closer quarters and decided to study “Mental Health Concerns of Caregivers of Persons diagnosed with Schizophrenia.” She continued to pursue clinical psychology as she completed her Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Delhi. Her work on “Lived experiences of Retirees” for the MA dissertation was her first introduction to the world of qualitative research in social sciences.

Her interest and aim to become a clinical psychologist, subsequently, brought her to the Central Institute of Psychiatry in Ranchi in 2012, where she completed a two-year clinical training and earned an MPhil in Clinical Psychology. She researched “Childhood Maltreatment, Attachment, Emotion Regulation, and Quality of Life in Depression” while pursuing her MPhil degree at Ranchi. The two-year stay at Ranchi was a turning point in Arpita’s career and research interests. The poverty and personal suffering lurking around in government mental health establishments significantly impacted her worldview. She decided to delve deeper into how mental health institutions and socioeconomic structures interact with experiences of mental illness for her doctoral studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Her PhD thesis explored “Experiences of Loss, Grieving, and Recovery in Severe Mental Illnesses.” The social constructionist approach to research helped her discover narrative ways of working with mental health problems. Her training in Narrative Approaches at Ummeed Child Development Centre, Mumbai significantly influences her approach to mental health research. Her doctoral work has been recognized and awarded by the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis in 2019.

Arpita is also registered as a Clinical Psychologist with the Rehabilitation Council of India and works actively with the Indian chapter of the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis. She has worked in diverse settings – government hospitals, private clinics, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions as a mental health professional.

1. Gupta, A. (2019). Qualitative Research and Severe Mental Illness: Situating Reflexivity and Agency amidst Healing Practices. Indian Journal of Psychology. Special Edition, 115-121.
2. Gupta, A., Bhattacharya, P., & Priya, K. R. (2019). Revisiting the Paradigm Shift in Trauma Studies: Twenty-Five Years of Veena Das’ ‘Our Work to Cry: Your Work to Listen’. The Journal of Anthropological Survey of India. 68(1), 70-84. [Link]
3. Pandey, R., Khanna, A., Sharma, D., Gupta, A., Bhattacharya, P., Kukreja, S., & Priya, K. R. (2019). Getting Close to the Context and Experience of Illness: Critically Reflexive Fieldwork in Qualitative Health Research. Journal of Health Studies. 1 (1), 96-127. [Link]

Book Chapters

1. Gupta, A. & Priya, K. R. (manuscript under review). What is lost? A qualitative inquiry into narratives around severe mental illness. In Kroon, J., Bouwel, L. V., Rijdt, L. D., & Gillham, A. (Eds.) Stranger in the City. Routledge.

 Other Publications

1. Gupta, A. (2021). Societal Challenges to Mental Health. In Mental Health: From individual stigma to societal issue. Asia and Oceania edition. AXA France Vie. [Link]