Antaraal: A Space for Psychotherapy and Counselling

Antaraal | Our Vision

Antaraal signifies a break in time and a space for pause, an interlude in the various acts of life in transition. Antaraal can be a moment of relief that one arrives at or a rupture which can set off deep-seated terrors and anxieties. In a relentlessly continuous life, a pause sometimes becomes a space for reflection while at others an experience of affliction. Emotional distress can be experienced as an overwhelming interruption which needs an engagement that can enable its communication.

In our understanding, Antaraal also connotes a cusp where we often find ourselves in between different emotional states. We all experience the chaos these states create within us. However, due to the stigma around psychological distress, one finds it difficult to attend to it and seek help for the same. This often leads to frustration, shame, isolation and creates conflicts in relationships as well as work. Unable to take a pause, we retain our functionality at the cost of our well-being. This kind of suffering hides in plain sight and is easy to miss in oneself and others. It needs a sincere attempt at engagement and the possibility of healing lies in being able to hear the turmoil inside, in someone's presence. Psychotherapy is a process which combines the elements of listening as well as experiencing that can help in uncovering, recovering and recreating meaning. Through a non-judgmental environment, the psychotherapist creates a collaborative space to facilitate this process with an understanding that it unfolds at its own pace.

With this ethic in mind, Antaraal: A Space for Psychotherapy and Counselling attempts to give a place to that which is within, but difficult to communicate. This process finds resonance in the Japanese art form called Kintsugi. "It treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated."