Deepika Padukone is an Indian film actress and model who is cited as one of Bollywood’s number one actresses of her time.
Recently the actress, to everyone’s surprise , on an interview with Hindustan times admitted that she had been fighting anxiety and depression for a while. Here is an excerpt of the interview :
“In early 2014, one day I fainted due to exhaustion and I woke up feeling different. I felt a strange emptiness in my stomach. I thought it was stress, and tried distracting my mind by focusing on work and surrounding myself with people, Â which helped me for a while,”
“Over a period of time, it got worse. When my parents visited me, I put my brave front forward. Then once while talking to my mom, I broke down. She realized the problem and instantly took me to her psychologist friend Anna Chandy.”
  
“Initially I was reluctant to taking medicines, thought it would get better by talking. But at times there was a roller coaster of feelings and finally I accepted my condition. The counselling helped, but only to an extent. Then I took medication and today I am much better.”
“Before shooting for next film after Happy New Year, I spent time with my family and was soon better. But, when I returned to Mumbai I heard a friend who committed suicide due to anxiety and depression. It was a huge blow. I then decided to take up this issue seriously.”
The World Health Organisation has stated that this will be the most widespread epidemic in the next few years and this is probably one of the deadliest mental disorders. Overcoming it and speaking about it has me a lot stronger than what I was and today I value my life much more.
I hope my example will encourage people to reach out for help.
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