It’s time, let’s talk depression
a luxury good that only the spoilt upper-crust can afford. So many people I know tend to dismiss it as an airy-fairy chi-chi ailment conjured up by the vapidity and decadence of the rich who don’t have ‘real’ problems. They may not say it in so many words but you can see the subtext clearly in their attitude and insensitive responses.
This was brought home to me a few weeks ago after I had an in-depth conversation for television with the extraordinarily brave Deepika Padukone along with her mother and two doctors. For someone in the business of selling fantasy and glamour it was quite remarkable that Padukone decided to allow millions — used to consuming her persona only in images of idealised beauty, a toned body and a happy, toothy, wide-set smile — to get past the glitter and step into what had been her private hell.
First in a conversation with this newspaper and then with me on TV, she spoke candidly about the strange, stabbing “pit” in her stomach, not wanting to get out of bed, locking herself up in a vanity van and crying relentlessly and about discovering what separates mere sadness from clinical depression. Her doctors — a counsellor and a psychiatrist — walked her through the treatment she needed and her mother said the family did not ever pause to worry about what this ‘admission’ may mean for her public image as a peddler of dreams. Her courage, and that of her parents, encouraged me to also speak freely to her about the anxiety attacks that had plagued me a few years ago and the sense of emotional isolation I felt when even the most well-meaning, helpful friends thought that the attacks were at least partially triggered by what they saw as my propensity for drama and hysterical over-reaction.
Padukone candidly spoke of how through her period of depression she had to do what TS Eliot called “prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”, tearing up on national television as she described the dichotomy of smiling for the unforgiving cameras and hastily retreating into the shadows of her mind when alone. She was doing this, she explained, because she believed her talking about it could offer strength to others to come out, confront the demons in their head and, more importantly, because people needed to know that medical treatment could either cure or contain most forms of depression.
“I’ve been to hell and back,” she admitted. The staggering response after the broadcast showed that she had touched more than a chord. Countless people wrote in about their own struggles and travails and how they had derived the confidence to talk about it from her.
Yet there were also the usual carpers. I heard whispers of the interview being used as a marketing launch-pad, snarky take-downs of her tears and contemptuous dismissals of her as a spoilt, rich girl who should not be complaining. I was incensed. Instead of applauding her, these lazy, armchair barbs only underlined the ignorance that continues to prevent the understanding of depression as an illness, just like any other.
In a country with the highest number of suicides in the world (WHO report, 2012) Deepika Padukone has done us all a favour. She has lifted the shroud of silence that has long veiled an honest discussion about our mental well-being. By baring her vulnerability, she has in some ways made herself even more vulnerable to unforgiving public scrutiny. Statistics and science both offer us all the evidence we need that depression is not a product of selfindulgence. So does poetry and the intensity of words. “I felt very still and empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo,” wrote Plath. That loneliness, if not treated, can kill. Literally.
So it’s time. Let’s talk depression.
Barkha Dutt is Consulting Editor, NDTV, and
founding member, Ideas Collective The views expressed by the author are personal have replaced ‘composure with barbarism’ should be seen in this light. It is not clear if he was referring to the new Saudi king or Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, the 30-year-old Saudi defence minister.
Iran’s reaction to the crisis in Yemen is mixed. Some argue that with a nuclear deal in its grasp Tehran would have preferred to deal with this crisis at a later, convenient time. Iran cannot, at least not at the moment, involve itself in Yemen the way Saudi Arabia has. At the same time, it cannot remain a mute spectator as Riyadh attacks the Shia militant group. Iran sending two of its ships to the Yemen coast should be seen in this light.
Turkey, meanwhile, wants to position itself as the Sunni leader and is countering Saudi Arabia on this. It is important to note that Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Khamenei earlier this week and pressed for a political solution to the crisis in Yemen. All these make the geopolitical chessboard of West Asia more complex than it is at present.
Khamenei’s statements do not upset efforts to seal a nuclear deal. They are pointed at Saudi Arabia and are part of the theatre in Yemen. It’ll be interesting to see how Iran reacts to developments in Yemen and what bearing it will have on the nuclear deal. is now mired in political opportunism and aggrieved finger-wagging.
For instance, Modi’s address to the judiciary should have led to questions about its role. Given its increasing powers, why should the judiciary not be open to more public scrutiny? Is every instance of public interest litigation borne out of an innocent conviction of the larger social good? How do we reduce pendency?
These are valid questions and must be asked in a vibrant democracy. Equally germane are questions about the media’s rapidly falling standards. Paid media, the trivialisation of news, a cosy proximity with sources, the failure to self-regulate, media trials, and the lack of accountability are genuine concerns that must be debated if any semblance of public credibility is to be restored.
But to start a debate you need a measure of sobriety, not name-calling. Mature leadership demands the encouragement of conversation, not a chilling effect on speech by using words and language best left to anonymous trolls on social media. The views expressed by the author are personal