Mental illness, also called mental health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behaviour. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviours. Many people have mental health concerns from time to time. But a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress and affect your ability to function. A mental illness can make you miserable and can cause problems in your daily life, such as at school or work or in relationships. In most cases, symptoms can be managed with a combination of medications and talk therapy (psychotherapy). To develop a mental illness, at any time of life, is a traumatic experience. It can severely affect day-to-day living. It can force you to reassess your life goals. It can cause you to lose touch with friends, family and community. It can take life’s opportunities out of your reach. And for some, it can lead to the darkest of thoughts and actions.
The most important aspect of mental illness is its acknowledgement by the person facing it as well as the people in his surroundings. If we admit that mental illness is a normal part of human life for some people, we must accept it rather than fear it. To understand mental illness in this way is deeply de-stigmatising. It helps us remember that every person with mental illness is human; needs love and company and support. It removes the dark stain of responsibility for one’s own mental illness that some people still paint. So here are some inspiring stories of some celebrities who fought mental illness and were brave enough to come out in the open and share their experiences.
Manisha Koirala
One of the most established actresses of Bollywood, Manisha Koirala suffered from clinical depression, the cause of which was her ex-husband Samrat Dahlal. Not only she battled clinical depression but she is also a cancer survivor. This is what one of her Facebook statuses said when she was going through that bad phase.
“How slowly, shadows of my past friendships are becoming a distant dream… did I have a bunch of friends with whom there were promises of life time? Disappointed, yes I m…but then life fills you with new hope, new friends…hoping this time round it would be rooted in deep values rather than just crazy, fun times!!”
Shahrukh Khan
Superstar Shahrukh Khan suffered from depression ailment post his shoulder surgery in 2010. This is what he said after that battle was over:
“Due to the shoulder injury and the suffering I had got into a depression mode but now I am out of it. I feel happy and boosted with energy.”
Deepika Padukone
This Bollywood beauty not only opened about herself being suffering from depression in a TV interview but also took a step ahead to establish a centre for mental health to help people going through the same phase.
“I thought it was stress, so I tried to distract myself by focusing on work, and surrounding myself with people, which helped for a while. But the nagging feeling didn’t go away. My breath was shallow, I suffered from lack of concentration and I broke down often.”
Ileana D’Cruz
In an interview with Miss Malini, actress Ileana D’Cruz talked about her struggle with Body Dysmorphic Disorder, anxiety and depression and how constant help and support from family and friends help her during tough times.
Aamir Khan
Aamir Khan suffered from PTSD or also known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It began on the last day of his chat show, Satyamev Jayate. It was not only him, but the whole team. They all had to go into therapy and medication for a specific time period. Unwrapping agonizing truths of the society and meeting people who went through the same was painful and did not sit well with them.
Johnny Depp
Actor Johnny Depp may be a chameleon on screen, but watch him during any interview, and you’ll see only a man whose facial expressions, droopy posture, and mumbled words give away what was once a big secret: Depp suffers from severe anxiety. Indeed, the actor’s anxiety has been a major source of depression and unease, so much so that Depp has access to therapists at all times, even on film sets, who help advise him on how best to deal with his anxiety and keep it from dragging him into severe depression.
Eminem
In his memoir, The Way I Am, Eminem goes into detail about his battle with depression more than a decade ago. Though the rapper grew up through tough circumstances, in 2006 he found himself reeling after the murder of his close friend and D12 member Proof. His continuously rocky relationship with his ex-wife wasn’t helping either. Eminem recalled, “I have never felt so much pain in my life. It was tough for me to even get out of bed and I had days when I couldn’t walk, let alone write a rhyme.”
Chris Evans
As Captain America, he may not be scared of much. But as himself, actor Chris Evans has dealt with depression stemming from his debilitating anxiety. In an interview, Evans described the feelings that overwhelm him in the spotlight: “A red carpet lasts, what, 30 minutes, tops? But that to me is like 30 minutes of walking on hot coals. It’s not like a junket — junkets you sit in a room and they bring them in. I can do that all day and not have a meltdown. But the premiere — that’s overwhelming. It’s the volume of it: You’re in the centre of this thing. You can fight a whole army if they line up one at a time. But if they surround you, you’re f-ed.”
Cara Delevingne
The London-born beauty was barely past puberty when she became one of the most sought-after supermodels in the world. By age 15, Delevingne was rich and famous, but was also hit with a “massive wave of depression, anxiety, and self-hatred.” An initial attempt at therapy and medication weren’t helpful, and Delevingne turned instead to harmful behaviour like partying and drugs. In an interview with Vogue, Delevingne said, “I was packing my bags, and suddenly I just wanted to end it. I had a way, and it was right there in front of me. And I was like, I need to decide whether I love myself as much as I love the idea of death.” Delevingne is now able to control her depression, and has continued a successful career in film and print.
Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway’s success has hardly slowed down since age 19, when she first found fame in Disney’s The Princess Diaries. But in a 2007 interview with Tatler magazine, Hathaway revealed that in the years before her big break, she suffered from depression and anxiety. During that time, Hathaway insists she was able to work through her anguish without assistance from medication. Thinking back to her troubled younger self, Hathaway has said, “I am sorry she was hurting for so long. It’s all so negatively narcissistic to be so consumed with self.”
Mental illness is not a solo fight rather it is everyone’s responsibility to accept the fact that mental illness is no variation from the norm. If anyone you know is suffering from any kind of mental illness then instead of isolating the person, try to stay by his side and let him know that he has got someone to hold him if he falls.
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