In light of recent events of ace-designer Kate Spade committing suicide after battling with Bi-polar disorder and depression for a very long time, one needs to pay heed to the fact that mental health isn’t given much importance and isn’t treated timely, often costing people their lives.
Kate Spade committed suicide after battling with Bi-Polar disorder and depression for a very long time. She refused to seek help fearing it would tarnish the reputation of her brand. Mental health is a taboo in the society. Even today, it isn’t treated as a real illness that needs to be treated. What’s startling is the fact that every other organ in our body is given attention and is treated except the brain. Kate Spade is just one of the many people who committed suicide after losing a silent battle with herself. To give you a few more examples from the past, Vincet Van Gogh, the famous artist, committed suicide after battling with manic depression. Actor Robin Williams committed suicide after battling with depression. Acclaimed designer and fashion icon, Alexander McQueen, also committed suicide after battling depression. Iconic actor Marilyn Monroe had also committed suicide after battling depression and bipolar disorder.
People don’t take mental health seriously and often label the people suffering as ‘crazy’, ‘retarded’, etc. The society’s negative attitude towards people’s mental health often pushes the person suffering to confinements and leads to the person feeling lonely and unaccepted. Many stars have come out in the support of this, and have talked about their battle with these diseases. One such person is, Deepika Padukone. In an interview, she revealed, that she suffered from anxiety and depression. She further said, “For various reasons, there’s a stigma attached to mental illness, which is why people choose not to talk about it. There were several reasons I chose to speak up. One, because it transformed my life in many ways. It was the most difficult experience I’ve been through, but it also taught me a lot about myself and about life.” Adding further on the painful experience of dealing with depression, Deepika said, “A large part of why I was unable to deal with it was that I wasn’t able to share it with anyone. If I had a fever I could tell people but with this going on inside me I would come to work not feeling great but not be able to express myself. What do I tell them? I tried in my own way. Sometimes I’d say I’m not feeling good. A large part of it for me was my own experience.”
Interviews like these of Deepika encouraged more people to come out and talk about their own battles. Talking about the disease is one step closer to the recovery. It is rightly said that the most violent element in society is ignorance. We all, together, need to join hands and come out in support of those suffering and be more accepting towards people with mental illness. Like any other illness, this too can be cured. All these people need is a comfort, understanding, and support so not another case like Kate Spades’ is allowed to happen.
