Somy Ali: Stigma attached to ignoring mental health has gone on for generations

Actress Somy Ali, who runs a US based NGO called No More Tears and tirelessly works to help and rehabilitate victims of domestic violence and rape, recently took to Instagram to talk about mental health. Citing examples of popular personalities such as Guru Dutt and Parveen Babi, she spoke about how mental health has been looked down upon since generations. “One of the greatest filmmakers of the Hindi Film Industry was Guru Dutt with films like Pyaasa and Kaghaz Ke Phool. A phenomenal actor, writer, director, and producer who suffered from severe depression and passed away after his third attempt at suicide. He was only 39 years old. Our society and its stigma attached to ignoring mental health has gone on for generations,” she writes. She adds, “If this stigma wasn’t there, today, Monroe, Parveen Babi (suffered from paranoid schizophrenia), Guru Dutt, Robin Williams, and many others would have been with us. As one with a background in psychology,

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I urge people to educate themselves on what mental ailments exist in us as well as others and how we can help those who are suffering quietly.” She requests people to spread awareness about mental health. “Let’s make mental health a common discussion forum rather than deeming people hysterical and crazy as if we are still living in the 1940’s. Let’s break this tendency to have an uncomfortable conversation about mental health issues. Deepika Padukone was the first to speak up and open up her own foundation to help many suffering from mental ailments. She took a huge step and spoke outside the box making herself completely vulnerable to the world. Why can’t we? How many more suicides do we need to witness because we have deemed mental health a taboo subject? Enough is enough!” She adds, “Just because something is unfamiliar to you, doesn’t mean it has a stigma and you should run away from talking about it. We can’t have more people committing suicide because we didn’t care or educate ourselves. Let’s change this to a norm subject of discussion rather than be silent.” She ends her post by writing, “On 10 October 1964, Dutt was found dead in his bed in his rented apartment at Pedder Road in Bombay. He is said to have been mixing alcohol and sleeping pills.”

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