Bollywood Stars Who Normalised Conversation Around Mental Health

If the past decade has taught mankind one important lesson, it would be to take care of your mental health at par with your physical. According to a survey conducted by The Indian Psychiatry Society (IPS) in April, 2020, there has been a 20 per cent increase in cases of mental illness, with one in five Indians suffering.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that conversations around mental illnesses were normalised, and, it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that well-known personalities take part of the credit since their stories of struggle inspired many to begin speaking up about theirs. Let’s take a look a few actors who were the frontrunners in making this much-needed conversation, normal.

1. Deepika Padukone

The actor has been vocal about battling depression, and the ups and downs she wet through. “I thought it was stress, so I tried to distract myself by focusing on work and surrounding myself with people, which helped for a while. But the nagging feeling didn’t go away. My breath was shallow, I suffered from lack of concentration and I broke down often,” she had said in an interview. She revealed that her support system got her back on track, and now, by going on record, she aims at helping those in need. “If I can impact one life in this entire process of speaking up and letting people know that it's something I have been through and something that I could deal with because I had a fantastic support system,” she said. In 2015, Padukone founded the Live Love Laugh Foundation, with an aim to reduce the stigma, spread awareness, and change the way we look at mental health.

2. Anushka Sharma

Back in 2017, Sharma had revealed that she is taking medical help to treat anxiety, and emphasised that it’s not “shameful”. “I have anxiety. And I’m treating my anxiety. I’m on medication for my anxiety. Why am I saying this? Because it’s a completely normal thing. It’s a biological problem. In my family there have been cases of depression. More and more people should talk openly about it. There is nothing shameful about it or something to hide. If you had a constant stomach pain, wouldn’t you go to the doctor? It’s that simple. I want to make this my mission, to take any shame out of this, to educate people about this,” she had said.

3. Ileana D’Cruz

D’Cruz had spoken at-length about being down and out, so much so that she was pushing people away. However, at that point, it was her former boyfriend, Andrew Kneebone, who gave her an ultimatum to seek help. “Things had got so bad that I was pushing people away. I didn't realise how much I was alienating people. I would constantly refuse to go out when friends would call. At one point, I didn't realise I was at home for a week... After that, I got an ultimatum from him,” she had shared in an interview.

“Now I don't look at life where I'd say: 'Oh gosh, my life's over if I don't have films any more'. My approach is that there's so much more for me to do... It (depression) really was in a way god sent... That depression and that phase in my life, as horrible as it was, was needed in a way to switch things back and change who I was as a person,” she added while talking about leaving the phase behind.

4. Hrithik Roshan

We see him beat the baddies up in style, and make fashion statements with every public appearance, but the actor has struggled with depression, and has beaten it to become a stronger person today. At an event in Mumbai in 2016, he had said, “I have experienced depression, I have experienced confusion, as we all do. It’s a normal thing. We all go through ups and downs. When you go through a down, then the most important thing is clarity of thought. Sometimes, your brain takes over, feeds you with unwanted thoughts.”

“Millions don’t know they might be suffering from something clinical which is not their fault. It is nothing one should feel awkward about. A knee, elbow, back or neck problems are something we are unapologetic to talk about. But when we are going to go through deep anxiety, depression, chaos, confusion, or addictive behaviour(s) and even though we know we are going through it, we don’t allow ourselves to talk about the problems that deal with the brain. It is because we have been conditioned since birth that it is something to feel embarrassed about. And we need to stamp out that stigma. We need to set ourselves free. We need to educate people,” he added.

5. Shraddha Kapoor

In September 2019, Kapoor opened up about her struggle with anxiety wherein, initially, she didn’t even know the reason behind this nagging pain she experienced. “I didn’t even know what anxiety was. We didn’t know it for a very long time. It was just after Aashiqui 2 where I had these physical manifestations of anxiety. There’s this pain happening where there was no physiological diagnosis. We got so many tests done but there was nothing wrong with me in the doctor’s report. It’s bizarre because I kept thinking about why I was getting that pain. Then I kept asking myself why that is happening,” she told an entertainment portal.

But today, she is in a much better place. “Today, it’s something that I still deal with but it has become so much better than what it was. Also, somewhere you have to embrace it. You have to accept it as part of yourself and approach it with a lot of love. That made a big difference. Whether you have anxiety or not, you always need to understand who you are or what you stand for,” she added.