The awareness of mental illness needs to break more barriers and now, thankfully, with people coming out in the open and talking about their battle against depression, the perspective has slightly changed.
If you are feeling low or stressed ‘coz of work pressure, plug off from your daily busy routine and take some time for yourself and do things you like. Like going for a walk, or listening to your favourite songs or even watching a fun movie together.
If you are looking for inspiration, here are some very popular TED talks by experts in the health field, with more than a million views on why mental health matters. Share this with someone you care.
Also read: Awareness of mental health among children
Even after being diagnosed with anxiety and depression, Webber Allen felt too ashamed to tell anybody, keeping her condition a secret until a family tragedy revealed how others close to her were also suffering. In this important talk about mental health, she speaks openly about her struggle — and why communities of colour must undo the stigma that misreads depression as a weakness and keeps sufferers from getting help.
In a personal talk, Sangu Delle shares how he learned to handle anxiety in a society that’s uncomfortable with emotions. As he says: “Being honest about how we feel doesn’t make us weak — it makes us human.”
Also read: Mental health & the elderly
Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, wonders: Could we do the same for depression and schizophrenia? The first step in this new avenue of research, he says, is a crucial reframing: for us to stop thinking about “mental disorders” and start understanding them as “brain disorders.”