Deepika Padukone has always been quite vocal about the dark phase of her life when she suffered from depression. The actress has time and again opened up about mental health issues and the importance of its awareness in the society.
Recently, Deepika graced the World Economic Forum being held at Davos, Switzerland and spoke in detail about her battle with depression. Talking to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Deepika recalled,
“Mental illness happened to me when I had least expected it. I was at a professional high, my movies were doing great and I was in an amazing relationship. Everything was going just perfect. One morning when I woke up and I felt all was well, I fainted.”
“Luckily the house help came and saw me on the floor. I was taken to a doctor and I was told it was nothing and probably just some blood pressure fluctuation or something like physical tiredness. Those were the first physical signs. For a long time, I just felt like sleeping, not going out, not meeting people,” she told HT.
Sharing her ordeal, Deepika further added, “Luckily, my mother had come to my place and when my parents were packing, I just started crying. She asked me what was it and I had no answer. At that time, my mother told me that I probably needed professional help and that’s how I began consulting a psychiatrist.”
“After I was diagnosed with a clinical depression regarding my mental health, I had to even lie when someone asked me how was I doing. I would say, I’m great, though I was actually terrible,” she said.
Deepika said she can’t imagine the outcome had she not sought professional help. “As I began on my path of recovery, I also understood the stigma attached to mental health and the need to go public with it. Imagine what would have happened, if my mother had not said that I should take professional help for my problem.”
“I felt that I should do something to help others with their signs and symptoms and that was the reason for going public with my illness and then setting up the Live Love Laugh Foundation,” she said.
Assuring them that they are not alone, Deepika urged people who suffer from mental health issues to seek help. “Are you feeling sadness and a low for a long period of time? You need to understand sadness is transient and depression is for a long period of time. It is very important to share with somebody around you about how you are feeling. It is also important that the people around you don’t dismiss it as attention-seeking or some small thing. It is important for caregivers to encourage people to seek help,” she said, reports India Today.
Deepika also shared how in India and many other places, parents are not as supportive and comfortable in discussing mental health issues. “At times, it is other way round too when parents want to take, but children do not want to seek medical help or consultation. I want every person experiencing mental illnesses to know that you are not alone – because there are no obvious physical symptoms. You feel like you are the only one going through this, and it comes with a lot of guilt,” she said.
She also said that society needs to get rid of the stigma and wrong notions regarding mental health such as people believing that men do not suffer from such problems among others.
We are proud of Deepika for bravely coming forward and speaking up about mental health every time.