New Delhi:
Over the past year,the 30-year-old actress Deepika Padukone has been quite open about her battle with depression and how she dealt with it.Deepika Padukone was speaking in Delhi at the launch of a nation wide campaign to bring awareness about psychological disorders, on World Mental Health Day , when she broke down.
"I still remember when two years ago, my family had come to see me, and they were about to leave and packing their bags. I was sitting in my bedroom all curled up and my mother asked me if I was OK. I said yes. She asked me if it was work or something else bothering me and I said no. She asked me twice or thrice and I could feel myself choking and I broke down. I want to say to my mother that if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. Thank you for being with me all through the way. I really thank my father, sister, friends who supported me and helped me with this," she said as she wiped away tears from her face.
"It is important to realise that the kind of society we live in today, we have become very competitive, and drilled into it, which is a good thing, but, I also think, we have become a little less sensitive to people around us...No one should feel that they do not belong to society", she said.
While sharing her personal struggle with depression, Deepika broke down during the function, and said, it is important that there is a supporting ecosystem of family and friends so that the suffering person can cope up with the disorder with hope and dignity.
"When I shared my story first, I did not feel any stigma or shame attached to it. And, the reason I came out in the open about it was because I just did not want to feel what I was feeling, I did not let depression to get the better of me", she said.
"So, I think the root cause is stigma. And the day we, as a society, can together get over that stigma and bring awareness about mental health issues, we will win this battle", she added.
The campaign has been jointly launched by Indian Psychiatric Society, Indian Medical Association and Deepika's Bengaluru-based nonprofit foundation, the Live Love Laugh Foundation (TLLLF). Deepika, who recently had also become the brand ambassador of the Indian Psychiatric Society, said the campaign was dedicated to all those people who have survived mental illness.
