When Will Indians Start Taking Mental Health Seriously?

I am sure most of you have heard or said these phrases at one point of your life but ignored them as you felt they hold little significance in real life as these are words that we utter when we are angry or upset. We have so easily normalized mental illness that a serious conversation regarding the subject only results in a few eye rolls. Anytime we fall and hurt ourselves physically we make sure that it is taken care of but when we are hurt mentally, our solution is a lousy Arijit Singh song.

Recently, Deepika Padukone talked about her struggle with depression and she even started an organization to help those struggling with this illness. There are many other organizations, clinics, and doctors who are ready to help those struggling with mental health issues but the question remains "How many of us are willing to seek treatment?"

In the film 'Dear Zindagi' the protagonist played by Alia Bhatt decides to pull herself out of the rut that she is in and does what most of us are scared to do, go to a therapist. Mental illness can seem like a petty problem at first but when this 'problem' becomes fatal, you can do nothing about it. Many Indian celebrities have taken the extreme step of suicide such as Jiah Khan, Silk Smitha and Guru Dutt.

"We care about death but we don't care about what caused it."

There are many other mental illnesses that most Indian's aren't familiar with such as Schizophrenia, Post-traumatic stress disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Any person who is diagnosed with such serious mental disorders will have their lives altered forever. There are methods and treatments to cure these mental illnesses but most of us are not aware of them. We decide to take the shortcut and abandon such family members.

Clinical depression is the most common of all the mental illnesses, a person experiences a loss of motivation and they feel as if they have no purpose to live. Most individuals mistake this illness for laziness but that will only cause them further harm. Going to a therapist doesn't make you insane instead it gives you a way for catharsis. Many times we are unable to tell our friends or family about our situation so, we feel more comfortable in talking to a professional.

The new generation seems to be understanding mental illnesses with more clarity than before but the general stigma attached to mental illness still remains. We take care of our bodies but forget about our brain. We forget that our brain is what controls us and it gets tired sometimes especially when it has been surrounded by the chaos of 21st-century clatter.

"We let our bodies sleep but our brain never truly rests."

Mental illness is many times triggered by some previous life experiences such as child sexual abuse or violence. This may become the cause of certain mental illnesses which persist in your adulthood. We need to take off the shades of ignorance away from our eyes and focus on finding peace within ourselves.