Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur) - Hindustan Times (Jaipur) - City
MENTAL HEALTH ISSTIGMATISED
The current scenario, with Covid-19 cases on the rise and the two-and-a-half month long lockdown were reason enough for many people to feel stressed, anxious, and lonely. To that, actor Huma Qureshi agrees, as she says, “People are at home, anxious for the future. When you don’t share or talk about anxiety, you bottle it up, and it keeps getting bigger. There’s a huge stigma around mental health. When we talk about what’s troubling us be it, at work or in relationships, these are anxieties that everybody is going through.”
This is why Qureshi has come up with a new series on social media, called It’s Neverrr Too Late, to begin a conversation about mental health.
“My heart always speaks for the homeless. Kahaan hain voh, kaise kar rahe hain. The luxury which thankfully some of us have — a house, four meals a day… after the basics are taken care of, mental health is the most important. Also, I am not claiming to be an expert or anything. This series is just to spark a conversation, dialogue and give people some amount of hope,” adds the 33-year-old.
Many celebs such as Deepika Padukone and
Alia Bhatt have been vocal about the importance of not ignoring one’s mental health. Does Qureshi feel that has led to some of the stigma shedding away? She quips that a lot of work still needs to be done. “A lot of people feel the need to speak to somebody, but are shy about it. They don’t have the support system. Nobody acknowledges it’s important. Whether it’s men or women… even a lot of men are anxious about the future, how will they be able to provide for their family. I feel the lockdown, will come up with it’s own set of anxieties. It’s important to address it.”