By South Asia correspondent Stephanie March
Australian-born Bollywood actress Pallavi Sharda has spoken out about the need to increase awareness about mental health problems in India, a country where the issue is heavily stigmatised.
Her comments come after high-profile Bollywood star Deepika Padukone wrote a newspaper column about her battle with depression and anxiety.
“I personally think it is very brave for someone of her star power and stature to talk about health as an issue,” Sharda said.
“I think that one’s feelings and emotions are generally a stigma here in the professional environment – which has been unfortunate – but I think Deepika is paving the way to changing that which is fantastic.”
She said like many industries, Bollywood was a high stress environment.
“You are in the limelight and the public eye and that notion of always being alright, because Bollywood actors are heavily idolised by the Indian public,” Sharda said.
Health professionals have also welcomed Deepika Padukone’s decision to speak out, saying many in India do not properly understand the issue.
Professor Vikram Patel from the Public Health Association of India said many equated mental illness with madness.
“I think [for] most people, a discussion even about mental illness is equivalent to a discussion about extreme forms of behavioural disturbance one associates with psychosis, and in turn that implies often being carted away by police and being locked up in a mental hospital,” he said.
India spends 1 per cent of its gross domestic product on health, and only 1 per cent of that on mental health.
The sector is chronically understaffed. Experts estimate there are around 3,500 psychiatrists in the country of more than 1.2 billion people.
It is not known how many people in India suffer mental illness, however the country has the highest number of suicides in the world.
Professor Patel said while he welcomed Padukone’s decision to speak out, it was important to remember depression and anxiety were not only rich people’s problems.
“I think it is very important to remember that depression and anxiety affect all social classes,” he said.
“Research from India shows that burden is far greater amongst those people who are more disadvantaged, for example who live in conditions of poverty.
“In fact social disadvantage in myriad forms – whether it is gender disadvantage, for example a woman who lives with a violent husband, [or] for example a farmer who is facing economic insecurity.
“These are the common social determinates in India and indeed everywhere.”
Padukone said she planned to launch a mental health awareness initiative in the near future.
Australian star Sharda – who works with an organisation in India’s eastern state of Odisha to help farmers improve their livelihood opportunities – said she would be keen to support any awareness initiative.
But she said it was important any initiative reached impoverished people as well.
“I do think that mental illness is something that is all pervasive,” she said.
“Deepika is a member of the Bollywood film fraternity and by virtue of that, part of a very elite class in India, so I really hope that it does manage to trickle down to a more grassroots level of Indians living here.”
The Indian parliament is currently considering legislation which industry experts say would legally compel authorities to ensure people with mental health problems receive care.