EXCLUSIVE | Shaheen Bhatt: 'I don't see depression as a negative word, people confuse mental health with depression'

Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan’s elder daughter Shaheen Bhatt has always been vocal about her depression and the importance of mental health. She even wrote a book I Have Never Been (Un)Happier where she poured her heart out on the struggles she faced and the support she received from her family, including younger sister and actor Alia Bhatt.

On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, in an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Shaheen Bhatt spoke about her experiences dealing with mental health issues, breaking the news with fans on social media, support from the family, and parents’ roll in shaping the future of their children without pressurizing them to be perfect.

What’s the importance of talking about mental health or any emotional or mental issue people struggle with?

It’s probably one of the most important things people can talk about because everyone has a mind, and if you have mind, you have mental health. Our mental health is a volatile and dynamic thing as it changes from day to day. Mental health is such a huge part of our lives and people often confuse it with depression or anxiety, that’s absolutely not true. Any conversation we have about it is absolutely vital.

How do you feel parents can motivate and encourage their children to do well academically or otherwise but also ensure they don’t pressurize them to a large extent to be the best?

The first thing is to appreciate and reward the effort and the attempt rather than the outcome. There’s this tendency to value the marks rather than praising the hardwork you have put in. We have to be less outcome driven, there are multiple ways of becoming successful, there are multiple ways by which you can achieve something, and academic studies are a minute facet of that. It’s important to nurture kids who are creative, who have compassion and empathy, emotional intelligence.

Ever since you have opened up about your depression, you even wrote a book I Have Never Been (Un)Happier, how many people, belonging to any age group, messaged you, reached out to you, spoken about their issues.

 

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I have lost count, so many people have reached out to me and I’ve been so lucky. The best thing about this journey, ever since I have started talking about mental health, is that I have spoken to so many people, sharing their own experiences. When you talk about mental health, you come to know that everyone is going through something and no one is alone.

Once you know there’s a feeling of emptiness and you recognize you have mental health issues, what do you feel should be the next step because some people aren’t able to open as they have the fear of being judged.

That’s a really really hard thing to do but I think it takes one moment of leaping and courage and pushing the fear of being judged. The best thing I could do for myself was to talk about my mental health issues. You might not be able to talk to everyone because not everyone will understand so just find one person you can be honest and vulnerable with, that’s all you need sometimes.

People often say don’t think negative, don’t overthink, be positive. Does that help?

Absolutely not. You cannot overcome a negative feeling by just forcing yourself to think positive, that’s not how it works. Every feeling has its place, when a so called negative emotion has its place and its value. If there’s a negative emotion, it’s telling you something, it’s telling you that there’s something you need to pay attention to. I don’t believe in this.

Your family, Alia Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt, Soni Razdan; how have they been your pillars of strength and support ever since you have opened up about your depression?

My family is my home, they are people that give me space and they are people that love me unconditionally. That’s also a place where I don’t feel any sense of judgement, I feel accepted and loved so they have been a great support system for me.

Deepika Padukone said in an interview people felt her depression wasn’t real, she was being paid. On one hand, we can use social media as a tool to share our thoughts and problems, but how to deal with its flip side with comments like these.

There will always be people that will use social media like that. I don’t see depression as a negative word or a dirty word or a bad word. I feel good when people associate me with it, I feel happy about the fact I’ve been able to talk about it and have a discourse about it. There will always be people that will try to spin it in a negative way, but those are voices I don’t listen to because I know the value of having a conversation, I know who I am and I know what it means to deal with depression and I know how many people are doing it.

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