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R. KRITHIKA / THE HINDU.
Shanthi Ranganathan Photo: R. Shivaji Rao.
Tobacco and alcohol addiction is a disease, says Shanthi Ranganathan, who believes in a point of return. The rehabilitation centre she started in her husband's name, after his death, is helping many kick the habit.
Most people know of Shanthi Ranganathan through her work in treating alcoholism and drug dependency. Ask her what set her on this challenging path and the answer comes without a trace of self-pity. “Brought up in a traditional family, I was married at the age of 20. Nobody drank in my house but, in my husband's house, drinking and serving alcohol were quite common. When my husband became an alcoholic, we were desperate for help. No one knew how to handle withdrawal symptoms when he tried to stop drinking. Only when we took him to the U.S. for treatment did I understand that alcoholism was a disease and had to be treated.”
She came back from the U.S. wanting to make people aware that alcoholism could be treated; a resolve strengthened by her husband's death. With her mother-in-law's support, Shanthi put her background in social work to use and underwent training in the U.S. on addiction rehabilitation. Then she started the TT Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation for treatment of addiction, of which she is now director. “My mother-in-law insisted we name the centre after my husband to show that we were not hiding anything; were not ashamed of him; to make people realise that the problem struck at all levels. Initially, things were tough; people and doctors wouldn't accept that alcoholism could be treated”.
Yes, it is a treatable disease, if you call it one.
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