Let's Talk About Mental Health

DEALING with teenage depression can be taxing, but it is a new societal reality from which we have no escape. Teenagers need to be heard, but in a fastmoving world, their window for expression is shrinking. Parents, teachers and society need to be more supportive in order to deal with childhood depression.

- MG Arun

Over the last five years, more than 40,000 students committed suicide in India. Last year itself, 8,492 students committed suicide. One student commits suicide every hour in India, and yet, we keep pretending like today’s teenagers are anything from fragile to obsessed about their looks —each of these blame-games makes diagnosis and treatment of teenage depression even more difficult.

Speaking at the India Today Conclave Mumbai 2019, moderator Soma Chowdhury gave the audience a few shocking numbers and mentioned how Deepika Padukone's opening up about her depression started a very important discussion that goes beyond caste, class, language, or age.