Karunasai Psychopark in Thiruvananthapuram takes visitors on a journey through the mind and brain

karunasai psychopark in thiruvananthapuram gives insights on human mind, psychology and behaviour through various exhibits such as sculptures, installations, paintings, demonstrations, games etc

Mammootty’s Vidhyadharan, a character in his award-winning Bhoothakkannadi, develops hallucinations. In Mohanlal’s Thanmathra, a family is traumatised when the head of the family has an early onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. Kumbalangi Nights is a classic example of a broken family, with the characters going through depression, emotional breakdown and more. These are just three of the many Malayalam movies that explore of the vagaries of the mind. Psychological conditions and mental illnesses have a certain following in Malayalam cinema.

Realising the popularity of such films, Karunasai Psychopark at Vellanad, has a section that is devoted to creating awareness of the different kinds of emotional, psychological and mental issues discussed in the movies from various languages with the help of film clippings. The theatre is one of the highlight of this sprawling ‘psychological theme park’, on two acres at Vellanad, 20 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram.

“This is the collective endeavour of a group of psychologists to break stigmas about psychology,” says LR Madhujan, psychologist, author and director of Psychopark.

Conceptualised as an edutainment centre, the place aims at providing information about the many aspects of the human mind and brain, psychology and its disciplines, human behaviour, myths and beliefs about mental illnesses and treatment, evolution of life and more. It is all done through games, stories, artefacts, demonstrations, models, paintings, statues, portraits and installations.

Although the Psychopark was officially declared open last month by the Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan, people have been visiting the place for over a year now.

Psychopark was a concept that developed organically. “When we conducted exhibitions across Kerala to create awareness about mental health, we found that people were always curious about psychology, probably because of topics such as hypnotism and mind-reading. So we considered having a permanent space where people could learn about the science behind psychology. The plan was to have a hall with exhibits. We called it Psychopark as psycho stands for mind and park corresponds to the green space where the building stands,” Madhujan explains. But, eventually, the project got bigger. It now stands on six floors, constructed at different levels from the ground owing to the topography of the terrain. “We got a grant from Ministry of Culture and the building was ready by 2018. It would have started functioning in early 2020 itself but for the pandemic,” he says.

After an introductory session, a visitor enters ‘Yesteryards’, where we get to know how mental illnesses were handled in ancient times. An imposing sculpture depicts ‘trephination’, a crude practice of drilling holes into the skull of a person with mental illness, supposedly to let out the evil spirit. That was also meant to remove ‘Stone of madness’, a hypothetical stone that was believed to cause the illness! The sculpture itself is based on a painting by Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch. Indian practices, especially methods of exorcism, have also been depicted.