My initiation to the world of therapy

Someone who yearns for emotional attachment, someone who is stressed at work, someone who has attempted suicide, someone who is being denied a right to choose, someone who is missing family, someone who has a rigid family, someone who had a shattering experience at home.

These are some of the people I have recommended therapy to over the past few months. Until an year or two ago, I knew nothing about therapy and in fact may have also considered it a little bit of a taboo or a challenge to my own ability to deal with my problems myself. But my dear friends Arpita and Nivida broadened my horizons with their work in mental health, their experiences with several people and how therapy helped them remain sane, deal with their problems and come out scathed but hopeful and fighting again on the other side. Soon after, with that lens on, I could sense that so many people around me (and sometimes me too), were depressed.

Come to think of it, after a certain age, you don’t really get to talk about your personal problems much. The outlet pretty much goes. Even the number of friends you have generally reduces. People get caught up in their professional lives and marriages and meeting and spending quality time together becomes more expensive money-wise and effort-wise. Family often judges you for sharing a problem, there is baggage, most families say a lot but don’t really talk to one another. Stress piles up, unhappiness and loneliness become your companions, you have less things to get excited by. So many global phenomenons catch on in this very phase - Religion, shopping, smartphone addiction, cigarette/alcohol/drugs addiction, hookup culture, workaholism, spiritual cults, social media addiction - these help us escape our loneliness and unhappiness.

We have a stylist, we have a doctor, some of us have a masseur/masseuse, we have cooks we like, why not also have a therapist! It’s not a ‘problem’ that needs a solution. Why not just have someone to talk to on a regular basis. In a way, you buy dedicated attention on yourself, a place to vent without judgment, a place to talk to yourself while talking to someone else. And mind you, a therapist is different from a psychiatrist or psychologist, so you aren’t going to be given any medicines if that’s a concern.

You’d be surprised by how much in-demand good therapists are, there’s a long queue to get an appointment. But a lot of the people who go do so discreetly. Recently, celebrities like Deepika Padukone have also come out about their depression and that is a good precedent to set. If you are depressed or know someone who is, help them. If need be, recommend therapy. If you feel I can help, reach out. My network is largely limited to a couple of therapist friends but hopefully we can together find someone who can help.