Recent events in Bollywood have triggered a storm of comments on mental health. Those with no knowledge or experience in the field of mental health, psychology, or psychiatry, have flooded the internet and news channels with their views on whether Sushant Singh Rajput was depressed, and if Deepika Padukone is peddling depression like it’s candy everyone wants.
Let’s just put it simply: this needs to stop. Our wilful ignorance on mental health is showing, and it is embarrassing to see an entire nation get swept into a wave of misinformation about how depression works.
The person at the centre of this discourse is Kangana Ranaut
Celebrities should never be a source of information on things like health- mental or physical. You wouldn’t go to Kangana or Shah Rukh Khan for advice if you got food poisoning, so why would you listen to them when they speak on depression, right? But, unfortunately, that’s not the case. In a country like India, we are heavily influenced by film stars and what they say, so for better or worse, their statements have a deep impact on the impressionable public.
So, the following statements Kangana made about Deepika Padukone’s depression, have caused a lot of damage to the progress in understanding and accepting mental health problems, instead of stigmatising them.
Image credits: Kangana Ranaut via Instagram
“Yeh jo depression theory hai, yeh Deepika Padukone ji hai woh achanak se 2015-16 mein kehti hain ki ‘2008 mein mujhe dump kiya gaya tha, toh mujhe uska depression aaj ho gaya hai. Aath saalon baad. Uske baad, beech mein unke affairs bhi chal rahe hain, woh ache se kaam bhi kar rahin hain, woh bahar jaake sajti sawartin bhi hain, sab kuch hota hai, shaadi bhi ho rahi hai, but depression bhi saath saath mein hai. Aisa kaise depression hota hai joki aath saal baad hota hai?”
Image credits: Zee Studios
Kangana’s statements were echoed by many who don’t understand how depression works. They slut-shamed Deepika for having boyfriends while she was depressed, said she couldn’t have worked in hit films if she was really depressed, and accused her of lying. If you have depression, you probably know how depression works, and why these assumptions betray a complete lack of understanding of the condition.
The reaction to Kangana’s statements proves we really don’t know a thing about mental health in this country, so here’s a refresher
Deepika had in the past said, “On paper, that should have been a great period in my life — I had just starred in four of my most memorable movies, my family was extremely supportive and I was dating the man who would later become my husband. I had no reason to feel the way I did. But I did.”
Image credit: Deepika Padukone via Instagram
This is something many people don’t understand about depression. So, here’s a refresher on how it works for those who don’t get it:
- Depression doesn’t have to be caused by a tragic event because it is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. It can happen to anyone at any point, many times even without a trigger. It can also be caused by the accumulation of past traumas over the years. There is a difference between being sad about something bad happening to you, and prolonged mental health issues like depression. So yes, it can take time for it to even be diagnosed.
- High-functioning depression is a type of depression where the individual can go about with day-to-day activities without being debilitated by the condition, meaning it is entirely possible to have a job and do daily activities without anyone knowing you even have depression.
- People who have depression are just like anyone else. They smile in public, dress up, have boyfriends, party with friends, and are not any less clinically depressed because they can function through it. Assuming someone’s life is too perfect for them to have depression is what delays diagnosis and prevents people from getting help in time.
It should be clear from this that Deepika’s decision to open up on her depression and the insidious nature of it helped many come to terms with it.
How Deepika Padukone opening up on her depression helped me, a clinically-depressed young adult ashamed of my condition
Image credits: NDTV
When Deepika Padukone, an A-list actress everyone perceived as strong, statuesque, and sensible, revealed her struggle with depression, it changed the way many Indians saw mental health. It showed people that depression doesn’t make you weaker or less of a human being. Corny as it sounds, as someone who struggled to come to terms with my own anxiety and depression, seeing Deepika publicly speak about her problems helped me be more comfortable with the fact that I have depression. After she spoke up, the same aunties who told me, “Problem kya hai, khush raho, shopping karo, enjoy karo,” reacted to my depression differently, saying “Koi baat nahi. Sabke saath hota hai. Tumhare control mein nahi hai. Deepika ko dekh lo.”
Image credits: Deepika Padukone via Instagram
So from where I stand, dismissing Deepika’s contribution is uncalled for because it made it easier for me to feel accepted. Whether she did it for publicity or attention is something that doesn’t concern me, because the end result was positive for society. I didn’t have to painstakingly explain what I was going through, because Deepika already had in public, and in doing so, helped many like me.But, it seems that people who haven’t suffered from similar experiences don’t care about that, because to them, Deepika initiating conversations on mental health means she’s selling mental health and has a “depression ka dhanda.”
Kangana does not deserve to be bullied or labelled “crazy,” but she is also no one to debunk Deepika’s depression
Image credits: Vishesh Films
Kangana got unfairly bullied and called names for speaking up against powerful men in Bollywood, so it is understandable that she doesn’t want to be seen as someone with mental health issues. Whenever a woman calls out a man, she is labelled crazy, and this is a tale as old as time. But, is condemning Deepika the way to undo that damage?
Deepika Padukone’s influential position at the time she went public about her depression helped millions, and encouraged a huge amount of progress with regard to open conversations about a previously-taboo subject like mental health.
But now, the demonization of depression and negativity towards people who speak about it has set us back decades. Kangana’s statement, “Because I know that people struggling with mental illness, a huge part of their life, goes completely dysfunctional and it is arguable ‘can they fully tap into their potential as professionals in their personal lives?’ And most people say that they can’t because of their limitations,” implies those of us with depression are dim and incapacitated. Ankita Lokhande’s words, “I don’t want people to remember him as a depressed person. He is a hero and an inspiration. He was a strong man,” reek of prejudice against those with mental health issues.
Image credits: Republic TV
So, let us reiterate once and for all: depression doesn’t happen to weak people, and people with mental health problems aren’t lesser humans. People with mental health problems can function and live “normally” with medication and therapy, and don’t deserve the othering done to them by those who pity them as helpless and dysfunctional. Not only that, but understanding that depression has many faces helps in diagnosing people who appear seemingly happy and “normal” before it’s too late. In order to prevent depression from taking lives, we need to de-stigmatise it and be kinder to those who have to suffer with it in silence.
How is it that we are back to making a point as basic as this in 2020?
Lead image credits: Live Love Laugh Foundation, Balaji Motion Pictures
