JerrodOverstreet at 22:24, 1 July 2025

2025-07-01T22:24:37Z

New page

{{Short description|Psychiatrist from India (1926–2015)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2025}}
'''Ajita Chakraborty''' (1926–2015) was one of the first women psychiatrists in India.

== Early life and education ==
Chakraborty was born in Calcutta in the state of Bengal in 1926.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bhattacharya |first1=Debasis |last2=Bhattacharya |first2=Rahul |date=April 2016 |title=Professor Ajita Chakraborty MB, DPM, FRCP (Ed.) FRCPsych: Formerly Director of Postgraduate Medical and Research Institute, Professor and Head of the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Calcutta, India |journal=BJPsych Bulletin |language=en |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=109 |doi=10.1192/pb.bp.115.051995 |issn=2056-4694 |pmc=4817665}}</ref> She graduated from [[Scottish Church College]] in Calcutta in 1944,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Prabhakar |first=Manasa |date=July 2021 |title=Dr. Ajitha Chakraborty: The first practicing Indian female psychiatrist (October 31, 1926 – May 08, 2015) |url=https://journals.lww.com/tjpy/fulltext/2021/07020/dr__ajitha_chakraborty__the_first_practicing.14.aspx |journal=Telangana Journal of Psychiatry |language=en-US |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=148 |doi=10.4103/tjp.tjp_40_21 |doi-access=free |issn=2772-8706|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and in 1950 Chakraborty qualified as a doctor by graduating from [[Calcutta Medical College]]. She continued her medical education in the United Kingdom where she trained in psychiatry. In 1960 she went back to India, thereby becoming the first female psychiatrist in the country.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Bhattacharya |first1=Debasis |last2=Bhattacharya |first2=Rahul |date=December 2015 |title=In Memoriam – Professor Ajita Chakraborty |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363461515612029 |journal=Transcultural Psychiatry |language=en |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=NP7–NP9 |doi=10.1177/1363461515612029 |pmid=26578635 |s2cid=35142343 |issn=1363-4615|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Chakraborty was involved in the [[Indian Psychiatric Society]], starting first with a position as general secretary and eventually elected as president in 1976.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Bhattacharyya |first=Ranjan |date=2018 |title=The development of mental hospitals in West Bengal: A brief history and changing trends |journal=Indian Journal of Psychiatry |language=en |volume=60 |issue=6 |pages=S198–S202 |doi=10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_432_17 |doi-access=free |issn=0019-5545 |pmc=5836338 |pmid=29527048}}</ref> She was the first woman to serve as president of the society.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Ghosal |first=Malay Kumar |date=2015 |title=Professor Ajita Chakraborty |url=https://bjponline.org/index.php/bjp/article/view/48 |journal=Bengal Journal of Psychiatry |language=en |pages=40–41 |doi=10.51332/bjp.2015.v20.i1.48 |issn=2348-9227}}</ref>

== Career ==
She worked in the field of [[transcultural psychiatry]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Reddy |first=Preetha |date=26 January 2020 |title=Time for gender parity in leadership in healthcare |work=Gulf News |id={{ProQuest|}}}}</ref> Her studies included the visual hallucinations of gods and goddess that she noted were particularly common in women.{{Cn|date=December 2023}} In 1991 she published an article titled ''Culture, colonialism, and psychiatry''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chakraborty |first=A. |date=May 1991 |title=Culture, colonialism, and psychiatry |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0140-6736(91)92869-4 |journal=The Lancet |volume=337 |issue=8751 |pages=1204–1207 |doi=10.1016/0140-6736(91)92869-4 |pmid=1673748 |issn=0140-6736 |s2cid=33640244|url-access=subscription }}</ref> at the invitation of ''[[The Lancet]]''.<ref name=":1" /> Following her death in 2015<ref name=":0" /> her work was covered in a chapter by Mandira Sen<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saikia |first=Dhruba J. |date=2018 |editor-last=Krishna |editor-first=Sumi |editor2-last=Chadha |editor2-first=Gita |title=Feminists and Science: Critiques and Changing Perspectives in India, Vol. I |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45129822 |journal=India International Centre Quarterly |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=159–164 |jstor=45129822 |issn=0376-9771}}</ref> and in a book on mental hospitals where Chakraborty described her experiences with the changing practice of psychiatry in India over the course of her career.<ref name=":3" />

== Selected publications ==
* {{Cite journal |last=Chakraborty |first=Ajita |date=January 1966 |title=Visual Hallucination |url=https://journals.lww.com/indianjpsychiatry/Citation/1966/08010/Visual_Hallucination.4.aspx |journal=Indian Journal of Psychiatry |language=en-US |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=21 |issn=0019-5545}}
* {{Cite journal |date=1969–1970 |title=Birth Order and Mental Illness |first=Ajita |last=Chakraborty |journal= British Journal of Social Psychiatry|volume= 3|issue= 4|pages= 231–36}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Chakraborty |first=Ajita |date=1983 |title=An epidemic of koro in west bengal (India) |journal=Indian Journal of Psychiatry |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=138–139 |issn=0019-5545 |pmc=3012338 |pmid=21847272}}
* {{Cite book |last=Chakraborty |first=Ajita |title=Social stress and mental health: a social-psychiatric field study of Calcutta |date=1990 |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=978-0-8039-9633-5 |edition=1. publ |location=New Delhi}}<ref>Reviews of ''Social stress and mental health''
* {{Cite journal |last=Indiresan |first=Jaya |date=1990 |title=Review of A Social-Psychiatric Field Study of Calcutta |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23634532 |journal=Sociological Bulletin |volume=39 |issue=1/2 |pages=167–168 |doi=10.1177/0038022919900110 |jstor=23634532 |s2cid=220049632 |issn=0038-0229|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Dean |first=Alfred |date=1992 |title=Review of Social Stress and Mental Health: A Social-Psychiatric Field Study of Calcutta. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2074797 |journal=Contemporary Sociology |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=119–120 |doi=10.2307/2074797 |jstor=2074797 |issn=0094-3061|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* {{Cite book |last=Chakraborty |first=Ajita |url= |title=My Life as a Psychiatrist – Memoirs and Essays |year=2010 |publisher=Stree |isbn=978-81-85604-92-3 |language=English}}<ref>Review of ''My Life as a Psychiatrist''
* {{Cite journal |last=Das |first=Anindya |date=February 2013 |title=Ajita Chakraborty, My Life as a Psychiatrist: Memoirs and Essays |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363461513484417 |journal=Transcultural Psychiatry |language=en |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=155–157 |doi=10.1177/1363461513484417 |s2cid=147011506 |issn=1363-4615|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Basu |first=Amit |date=January 2012 |title=My life as a psychiatrist: Memoirs and essays |journal=Indian Journal of Psychiatry |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=97–98 |doi=10.4103/0019-5545.94661 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Honors and awards ==
The [[Bombay Psychiatric Society]] awarded her with a lifetime achievement award.<ref name=":2" />{{When|date=December 2023}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chakraborty, Ajita}}

[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Women psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Scottish Church College alumni]]
[[Category:Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from West Bengal]]

Ajita Chakraborty - Revision history

JerrodOverstreet at 22:24, 1 July 2025