Chandigarh, Oct. 25 -- Panjab University (PU) is looking to hire a second mental health counsellor on campus, after hiring one at the start of the year. The varsity currently has only one counsellor for nearly 15,000 students. The dean students welfare (DSW) office has issued an advertisement, asking candidates to apply by the end of the month. The only drawback is the meagre honorarium of Rs.20,000 a month, which is unlikely to find many takers. Officials, however, say that they will reconsider this if no responses are received. An advertisement for this post had been issued in February as well but the DSW office ended up scrapping it due to technical reasons. "We will see how many people apply for this. We plan to fill up this seat in this session itself," said DSW Amit Chauhan. The varsity earlier had two counsellors, both of whom quit. PU had also planned to rope in a psychiatrist. DSW Chauhan said that he would take this up with the student council before getting it approved by the higher authorities. Unlike counsellors, psychiatrists can prescribe medicines in serious cases. The current counsellor, Pulkita Wadhwa, who joined in January, has treated over 230 students so far. Talking about the kind of issues students bring to her, Wadhwa said, "Most students come to me for help with managing exam stress. At the start of the session, we also saw students stressing over room allotments etc. But as exams draw closer, we have again started getting academic stress cases." She added that many students are on the edge of developing severe mental health disorders but it can be treated if diagnosed in time. The counsellor added that many students - girls as well as boys - have opened up to her about childhood sexual assault. "Our goal is to make students functional first and then use psychoanalysis for their improvement," she added. Wadhwa also revealed a new trend in which students discuss their symptoms with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT. "They come to me after ChatGPT and other AI tools diagnose them with diseases such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the primary symptom of which is inability to keep focus. Though AI lacks human support and emotion and thus can't replace human therapists, it's good that it is bringing students to us," she added. On the advertisement for a second counsellor, she said it was a much-needed move. "Having another counsellor would help us reach out to more students in departments and hostels and hold awareness sessions. However, a full-time counsellor position is bound to bring more experienced applications, which would benefit students more."...