Dr. Anuradha Sovani
Professor and Head Department of Psychology
SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai
Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University
India
Biography
Dr. Sovani has an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. from University of MTumbai and has been a Chancellor’s Gold Medallist at Masters’ level and recipient of various scholarships and awards, including the UGC Research Fellowship, the National Talent Search Scholarship, the Mankar Prize of the University of Mumbai, and recipient of the best research paper award of the Indian Psychological Association, the award for the best paper published in Disabilities and Impairments in 2004 and best book award for Children’s literature awarded by Maharashtra State. She has successfully guided nine Doctoral students, and has six more working towards a doctoral degree. Consultancy and outreach: Consultant to National and State level bodies like National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped Secunderabad, Rehabilitation Council of India, HSC board for syllabus construction, the Maharashtra State Mental Health Authority, Yashada, Pune, Institute for Vocational Guidance and Selection, Maharashtra, and the Thane Police cell for Women’s welfare, the Saamajik Suraksha Kaksh. Serves on ethics committees of bodies including ADAPT at the National Resource Center for Inclusion, Research Society at Sewree special school, CSM Hospital and RGMC, Kalwa, AACCI (Association for Adolescent and Child Care in India) Fortis Hospital, Mumbai, and the Global Fund project, Round 7, counseling component, of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
Research Interest
Interest areas include community awareness about mental illness and health, mental health of children and women, working through the print, newspaper columns and audio-visual media, as well as through live community based programs; schizophrenia and other severe psychological conditions and rehabilitation. Currently serves on Core Committee for Rehabilitation, Department of Health Services, Maharashtra State, and Rugna Kalyan Samiti (patient welfare), Regional Mental Hospital, Thane, Maharashtra.
Publications
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Publication in lay press Dr. Sovani has authored eleven Marathi books, four on Child Mental Health, one on Quality of Life, one on couple relationships and couple counseling, one on Personality Disorders, a popular new series called “Maanas-rang†as well as columns in Sakaal and Maharashtra Times and regular invited thought leader articles in Loksatta, Saaptahik Sakaal and Kaalnirnay.
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Publications: Select Book chapters: ï‚· Mental Health Interventions at Community level. In Social Psychology of Health, The Issues and Concerns in India. (ed.) Urmi Nanda Biswas. Concept Publishing 2014. Pp.71-86. ï‚· Case scenarios in Pediatric and Adolescent practice. (ed.) J. Parthasarathy. Jaypee Brothers, 2014. ï‚· Adolescent Health Case Scenarios. (ed.) Swati Bhave. Byword Books, 2011. ï‚· Sport Psychology In Handbook of Sports medicine for children and adolescents. (ed) Bhave, S.Y., Patel, D.R., and Greydanus, D.E. (2008). Jaypee brothers medical publishers, 2010. ï‚· "Shubharthis in India : De-stigmatising schizophrenia – a move towards inclusion" In Disabilities: Insights From Across Fields and Around the World, 3 volume book set. Marshall, C.A. Kendall, E., Gover, R.M.S. & Banks, M. (Eds.). Westport, CT: Praeger Press.2009. March 2009. pp 231-242. ï‚· Early Intervention and Action Research. In “Crossing Boundaries, Sharing Ideas†(ed) V. Timmons and M. Alur. NY: Sage Publications,2009. Pp 161-187. ï‚· Performance of high and low functioning groups of people with schizophrenia on tests of cognition. In Mindscapes: Proceedings of NIMHANS, 2007 International Conference of Psychology in mental health. (Based on Findings of UGC funded Major Research project 1997-2000.) Select research journal publications: ï‚· Sovani, A., Kumawat, S and Joshi, G. (2013) Terrorism and the ‘utility’ of people with ASPD trait patterns: Forensic significance of MCMI III and Rorschach Inkblot Assessment. Archives of Indian Psychiatry,15(1). ï‚· Sovani, A. (2012) Personality Disorders-What do we do with them! Archives of Indian Psychiatry, 14 (2) 57-60. ï‚· Sovani A. and Khan, R (2012) Visual and verbal memory deficits in adults and children with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Disabilities and Impairments, 26(2), 26- 132. ï‚· Sovani, A and Apte, S (2012) Intervention for burnout experienced by caregivers of people with schizophrenia. Archives of Indian Psychiatry, 14(1), 30-36. ï‚· Dighe, M, Jadhav,S and Sovani, A (2012) Parental concerns in children requiring palliative care (2008) Indian Journal of Palliative Care,14(1) , 16--22. ï‚· Sovani A.V. , Thatte, S.S. , Shroff , H. Sawant, S. et al (2008) Wechsler IIntelligence Scale for Children, IVth edition - An exploratory study from Mumbai. Bombay Psychologist, (1 & 2) 7-14. ï‚· Sovani, A.V., Thatte, S.S., Korde, R, Joshi K, et al (2007) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, IVth edition (WISC –IV) A multi-center study. Archives of Indian Psychiatry, 9 (2), 49-52. ï‚· Bodas, Jaee, Ollendick, T. H. and Sovani, A. V. (2008) 'Test anxiety in Indian children: A cross-cultural perspective', Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 21 (4) , 387 - 404. Select conference presentations: ï‚· Persons with Disabilites: Counseling concerns and strategies. Session for Continuing Education program at AYJNIHH , an autonomous institute under the Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India. 2013. ï‚· Post abortion grief. Conference of Mumbai Association of Obstretrics and Gynaecology, 2013. ï‚· Opportunities , Challenges and Future Directions in Promoting Mental Health, International Conference on Health and well Being, Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai, 2013. ï‚· “Recovery, Rediscovery, Empowerment : lessons learned with and from Shubharthis, people suffering from Schizophrenia.†International Conference on Schizophrenia, V. September, 2012. ï‚· “Employment and Mental Health†Workshop, International Conference on Schizophrenia IV, October 2010. ï‚· “More is Betterâ€. Symposium presentation, Third International Conference on Schizophrenia III, October, 2008. ï‚· Invited lecture workshop on stress, conflict and burnout in health professionals. CMC Vellore, October, 2008. Psychological Test construction and validation studies ï‚· Pearson India Clinical validation study of the WISC IV India, 2014. ï‚· State Trait Anger Inventory-2 (Hindi and Marathi language versions) with Dr. Charles Spielberger and Sunil Saini, 2009. ï‚· Worked with Dr Ollendick, Virginia Tech, on Indian language versions of MASC, Fear Survey Schedule and CDI, 2005. ï‚· EDLOF A test of Emotion Discrimination and Labeling of Faces. Published at University Press, Mumbai. Distributed by Manasayan, New Delhi, 2004. ï‚· Translation of 16 PF into Marathi and Gujarati. Distributed by Psycho Centre, Delhi,2000. ï‚· GFTAM consultant for tool construction, ethics committee and selection panels, TISS, Mumbai.
