How Mental Illness is treated in India
Mental Illness is not considered like any other regular illness - the way it should be - in India. If you're depressed you might as well keep it to yourself, unless you want to be shamed, ridiculed, yelled at or thrown out of your own house.
If you show even slight signs of not being the happy-go-lucky, cheerful individual you're expected to be get ready to face the wrath of questions that will be thrown your way. You'll be called all the synonyms of the word "Insane" that could possibly exist.
I just can't seem to grasp what is so difficult about depression for Indians to comprehend? For a population that is so intelligent, why can't they understand that being depressed doesn't mean that you need to be locked up in a mental asylum? Shouting and screaming will not affect the person's temperament. It will just make everything worse for them!
What Indians need to realise is that there is absolutely nothing shameful about having anxiety, being depressed or having suicidal thoughts. People just need the required help and support. They need to realise that they're not alone. They need to know where there is a hope, there is a way. They need the encouragement to find the strength and will power within themselves that will help them to continue living - to not just live but thrive.
It angers me so much when people refer to others who are coping with depression or anxiety as 'crazy lunatics'. This mindset needs to change right now. People have to know that it's perfect alright - perfectly natural to speak up about their problems. There will always be help available.
When I refer to 'Indians' - I'm not talking about all the Indians that exist, but about a vast majority of them who are inclined to think in such a way. They feel that if someone is depressed - their life is gone, there is no cure for them. But obviously that's a really stupid way to look at things. Depression is not something that's going to stick with you forever, it's just a dark cloud - it's like being stuck in a tunnel and being unable to see the light at the end of it.
It's like being stuck in a well and no matter how many people send you a rope you won't be able to reach for it, because you're just too tired. You need to find it within yourself to stand up - find the encouragement and courage to grab hold of the rope and then with the help of the people outside who are willing to support you through it all - pull yourself up.
But if everyone keeps taunting you and insulting you while you're stuck in the well, do you think you'll ever find it within yourself to even get up? See, that's the thing. We - as people need to me more empathetic and less quick to judge and label others. We need to see things from others' point of view instead of what our selfish eyes can see.
Support, encouragement and hope is all these people need. They don't need to be alienated and treated like a separate species. Mental Illness is just like a stomach ache - you don't yell at someone for suffering from a stomach ache, do you? They just need the help that they can get not the insults!
If you show even slight signs of not being the happy-go-lucky, cheerful individual you're expected to be get ready to face the wrath of questions that will be thrown your way. You'll be called all the synonyms of the word "Insane" that could possibly exist.
I just can't seem to grasp what is so difficult about depression for Indians to comprehend? For a population that is so intelligent, why can't they understand that being depressed doesn't mean that you need to be locked up in a mental asylum? Shouting and screaming will not affect the person's temperament. It will just make everything worse for them!
What Indians need to realise is that there is absolutely nothing shameful about having anxiety, being depressed or having suicidal thoughts. People just need the required help and support. They need to realise that they're not alone. They need to know where there is a hope, there is a way. They need the encouragement to find the strength and will power within themselves that will help them to continue living - to not just live but thrive.
It angers me so much when people refer to others who are coping with depression or anxiety as 'crazy lunatics'. This mindset needs to change right now. People have to know that it's perfect alright - perfectly natural to speak up about their problems. There will always be help available.
When I refer to 'Indians' - I'm not talking about all the Indians that exist, but about a vast majority of them who are inclined to think in such a way. They feel that if someone is depressed - their life is gone, there is no cure for them. But obviously that's a really stupid way to look at things. Depression is not something that's going to stick with you forever, it's just a dark cloud - it's like being stuck in a tunnel and being unable to see the light at the end of it.
It's like being stuck in a well and no matter how many people send you a rope you won't be able to reach for it, because you're just too tired. You need to find it within yourself to stand up - find the encouragement and courage to grab hold of the rope and then with the help of the people outside who are willing to support you through it all - pull yourself up.
But if everyone keeps taunting you and insulting you while you're stuck in the well, do you think you'll ever find it within yourself to even get up? See, that's the thing. We - as people need to me more empathetic and less quick to judge and label others. We need to see things from others' point of view instead of what our selfish eyes can see.
Support, encouragement and hope is all these people need. They don't need to be alienated and treated like a separate species. Mental Illness is just like a stomach ache - you don't yell at someone for suffering from a stomach ache, do you? They just need the help that they can get not the insults!
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