People are now more open to talk about mental health than before, especially in urban areas. In fact, they are even coming forward to have therapy sessions, but a lot more needs to be done and more action needs to be taken, opined Neerja Birla, the chairperson of the Aditya Birla Education Trust, during a fireside chat session at the Mpowering Minds Summit in Bengaluru.
“They are wanting to have conversations. They are wanting to see therapy. Much more than our generation. Back then I think the awareness was just so lacking that we couldn't have even told people that you need to seek help. That conversation could not have happened,” she said.
She added that it was perfectly okay to acknowledge that everyone had their down days when they just didn't feel good at all.
“I think we're all so conditioned to believe that we have to endure without any support. We have to just endure silently. I think that conversation needs to sort of shift and I think we need to bring in compassion, and I think we need to be kinder to ourselves. And that's something that I think I'm also learning along the journey,” Birla pointed out.
She added that from the time they started (10 years ago) till now, there has been a huge shift.
“I think we have been able to drive conversations. There is a lot more awareness. There is a lot more willingness to have conversations. There is a definite shift in health-seeking behaviour. People are definitely more open to talk about wanting to have therapy,” she observed.
Neuroscientist Eamon McCrory added to the conversation, noting that it was important to understand the importance of relationships with others, especially as children.
He felt that it was important to make sense of things if you have experienced traumatic abuse. If something traumatic has happened, such as a loss in the family it is better to speak about it.
“If a young person shows resilience and discloses the abuse that has happened to him/her to an adult who listens—who helps; who the young person trusts to disclose, he/she can develop a different kind of meaning from that abuse. He can realise that there is nothing wrong with him or her,” McCrory said.