A couple of days ago, actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh spoke about how they sought counseling and therapy from mental health professional after a psychologically draining portrayal of roles, they are playing in the their film Padmavati.

Deepika Padukone has even previously spoken about her Depression and mental health issues and also founded a platform – Live Love Laugh Foundation to encourage people for seeking help for depression and focusing various aspects of mental well-being. Deepika recently attended India Economic Summit, October 2017 and again divulged about how depression affected her life.

Today, on World Mental Health Day as marked by WHO – World Health Organization – we need to address a very important aspect of our lives, society and overall well-being and that is Mental Health.

When actors or celebrities open up about their struggle with their mental health or talk about depression or anxiety despite of having an external image of “having-it-all” – this gives more strength and relatability to people to accept and come to terms with their own mental health issues.

In spite of the fact that physical health and mental health being so intrinsically related, mental health issues don’t get their due attention and required treatment due to societal taboos, fear of being judged. Mental health ailments are detrimental to a person’s health and treatment should be sought for the same.

Because YOU ARE NOT ALONE. AND IT IS OK to talk about it and get help.

A senior counselor shares that the three main reasons that lead to suicidal thoughts are issues in relationships, professional/work life, addiction, peer pressure etc.The rat race, fast paced life, work stress, performance stress, social pressure, family pressure and low self confidence and self image are the top most causes behind mental health problems.

India ranks low at 122 among all the countries in the world in the happiness index, Norway being the happiest country. Every hour, one student commits suicide in India, according to 2015 data (the latest available) from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) (April, 2017). Working professionals and startup founders in the age group of 20 to 35 years are said to be most susceptible to suicidal thoughts. Many incidences of mental health issues like stress and depression are linked to substance abuse. Blood pressure, Diabetes and Obesity among young generation is constantly rising due to workplace stress.

We need to make our society and young generation strong enough to tackle stress and cut them a slack from the mount of expectations. India needs a reliable and credible Mental healthcare system as the statistics are definitely not in our favor.

We take sick leaves when we are physically unfit to work. Are we really mentally fit to work? Is an idea for having a paid sick leave for a bad frame of mind, legit?

Madalyn Parker, a web developer based in US – who suffered from chronic depression and anxiety, sent an email to her team saying she’d be off two days to focus on her mental health.

She used sick time. She said on Twitter she wanted to be specific with her team about using her sick time for mental health so other employees can feel comfortable doing it too.

Ben Congleton, her CEO at live-chat platform, Olark did the opposite of what most employees expect following such a request — he thanked her for shedding light on the importance of good mental health.

Days are not far when educational institutions and companies will have to acknowledge the importance of mental health and offer counseling support, mentoring and psychological help to their students and employees for their well-being.

Talk to a Counselor privately and anonymously HERE , or call us on our HELPLINE – 9099094321

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