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piqer for: Global finds Health and Sanity Doing Good
Bangalore-based Rashmi Vasudeva's journalism has appeared in many Indian and international publications over the past decade. A features writer with over nine years of experience heading a health and fitness supplement in a mainstream Indian newspaper, her niche areas include health, wellness, fitness, food, nutrition and Indian classical Arts.
Her articles have appeared in various publications including Mint-Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, Deccan Herald (mainstream South Indian newspaper), Smart Life (Health magazine from the Malayala Manorama Group of publications), YourStory (India's media technology platform for entrepreneurs), Avantika (a noir arts and theatre magazine), ZDF (a German public broadcasting company) and others.
In 2006, she was awarded the British Print-Chevening scholarship to pursue a short-term course in new-age journalism at the University of Westminster, U.K. With a double Masters in Globalisation and Media Studies from Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), University of Amsterdam and Swansea University in Wales, U.K., she has also dabbled in academics, travel writing and socio-cultural studies. Mother to a frisky toddler, she hums 'wheels on the bus' while working and keeps a beady eye on the aforementioned toddler's antics.
We Are All Not Always Fine And That's Okay
The stigma around mental health can be devastating, and in the case of my Chinese friend, tragic. The news of her suicide shocked us deeply. It was heart-breaking to discuss why we had collectively failed her and what we had missed.
But think about it. How often is it that we have meaningful conversations about our mental well-being, even with those who matter to us? As a new mother, despite suffering from terrible mood swings and a suffocating heaviness that was exhausting me physically and mentally, I never thought of seeking help – I assumed it came with the job. I kept telling myself I was fine, when clearly I was not. My friend who took her own life bottled up her suffering because she did not feel she could talk to anyone about her depression. This inability to give voice to our mind is mostly due to a stigma that has hardened over centuries and is still a part of my culture, and many others'. People have been conditioned to feel too scared, embarrassed or lonely to seek help that they might desperately need.
In this context, this long-term study, which concluded that a vast majority of us experience a mental health problem at some time or other, assumes critical importance. The study co-author Jonathan Schaefer from Duke University says that, for many people, an episode of mental disorder is as common as influenza, kidney stones or a broken bone. The difference is, only some seek medical care and of those who do, most recover.
Crucially, the study also suggests that long-term mental health is not the norm - in other words, we are all not always fine and that is okay. The authors hope that increased awareness about 'normal' mental disorders will eventually help reduce the stigma attached to mental health treatment, especially in countries with poor and mismanaged public healthcare systems.
It's still tough reading, talking and thinking about what happened back then. I love that you keep the memory alive and transform this tragedy into something good, by being more open about the black holes we all slide into. A German spokesperson for people in wheelchairs welcomed the crowd at a public event with "Hello to everyone who's temporarily not impaired." It's true: If you don't die young and abruptly, you'll be a disabled person at some point in your live. This framing stuck with me. It makes disability less of an exemption as it's perceived. The same holds true for our mood and mental state. It's so fragile. We should enjoy it more consciously while we can and perceive those who (hopefully temporarily) can't, not as "unnormal".