We need to talk

The festive season is upon us here in India. After almost a year and half of lockdowns, second waves, night curfews, vaccinations, moments of happiness and loss, we finally had a reason to celebrate again. At work, my colleagues and I were excited about the prospect of a series of holidays during this period.

Friday, October 8th was one of these holidays. Unlike the other days, this was not a festive holiday. Instead its significance was far more than the other holidays that we had. It was a holiday on account of World Mental Health Day as a chance for us to disconnect from our regular workdays.

One could ask, what good is a holiday in our attempt to de-stigmatize mental health in India? Will it just be used as a way to get a long weekend? I saw it differently. The approach to solving a problem is to identify it, find a solution and implement it. Currently in India, we are in a phase where we are currently only acknowledging that mental health is just as important if not more important than physical health.

The CoVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on multiple fronts and in the process laid bare the challenges Indians faced on the mental health front. A recent UNICEF report among 20,000 children and adults in 21 countries indicated that children in India were not comfortable seeking support for mental stress. Only 41% of young people between 15 -24 years of age in India felt that it was good to get support for mental health problems, compared to an average of 83 per cent for 21 countries.

In fact, India was the only one of 21 countries where only a minority of young people felt that people experiencing mental health issues should reach out to others. In every other country,?a majority of?young people (ranging from 56 to 95 per cent) felt that reaching out was the best way to deal with mental health issues.

We were afraid to be vulnerable and were conscious about showing signs of burning out due to long work hours. We were afraid of being judged by our employers and our co-workers as a result of this.

While we faced long working hours confined in our homes without the simple social interactions that made office life fun, it was refreshing to see my employer taking this seriously.

The declaration of a holiday on October 8th was not just a holiday announcement, it was in fact a strong statement that 'Hey we know what you are all going through. We are here. Take some time off'

It was made more personal when our CEO addressed the entire company and talked about what are the things he would be doing on his day off. We were asked not to respond to official emails or calls. This was a small but significant step towards acknowledging the challenges of a truly difficult year.

How do we solve this? Or rather how should we proceed towards a solution? I have been someone who has battled anxiety for years and made good progress only because of a positive support system around me that provided me a safe space to talk about my feelings. It is important that we in turn create more such safe spaces for people to talk without the fear of being judged or lectured. Normalizing mental health would give people confidence that they are not alone in this world.

The opening lyrics of 'Keep Talking', a song by my favourite band Pink Floyd which had Stephen Hawking say a few wise words can serve as a healthy parting message to my message.

"For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened that unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk"