According to the study conducted by GOQii, 43 percent Indians suffered from depression, which is a frightening figure as that suggests how it affects the personal and professional life of an individual.
Last year, during the Pandemic, the world stood between four walls, while the other part of the population fought the battle with COVID in the hospitals. What became a spot of the bother is the weakening mental health among the community due to the yearly lockdown as a result of the pandemic. According to the study conducted by GOQii, 43 percent Indians suffered from depression, which is a frightening figure as that suggests how it affects the personal and professional life of an individual.
Well, in order to help fight mental illness, a Pune based 24 years old author, Akash Dhanurkar, has been running a free off cost ‘talk session’ for the people in need. He has been running the movement for the past two years ever since he lost his elder sister to depression; he further wrote a book on her life, which he sold without any intent of earning profit. The book soon captured the attention of the Indian Literature as it got featured in Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Sakal Times, Punekar News, and other media platforms.
While understanding his perspective behind the cause which he runs under the movement named ‘Hear the Unheard’, he said, “In India, depression and anxiety is not the big trouble, but accepting the illness is the big issue. I have lost my sister to depression, and even I couldn’t even understand what depression is and its deep rooted existence until I lost my loved one to it. Remember, the pandemic has become an added burden to the existing threat of depression.”
According to the additional points suggested by Akash, it was understood that the Pandemic is not just taking a toll on the lives of people, but is also making an impact on the generations that will go on for years. People in today’s world do not believe that depression exists and has been claiming lives for a very long time. The mental illness can be cured and the people with depression can live a better life post-treatment or therapy by psychiatrist or psychologist, which is the need of the hour. Akash also believes that the best way to fight depression is to first accept it.
“You see, human psychologies go from person to person, but one thing that stays common among all of us is the spirit to fight. We gather spirit only when acceptance becomes our arsenal. Fighting depression is no big task, but only a fighter wants to accept it and move ahead with a smile at the end, because nothing is guaranteed. We shall miss the moments that could have been a journey. So, why to crib about something that stops us from living?”
He further continued, “I always believe that everyone in this world goes through a dark phase at some point. In my book, Living Letters’, I had tangled with a Psychiatrist in the cage of depression. In my book, I have shown how a psychiatrist goes into depression after knowing that he is living the remaining days of his life, struggling from cancer. He further counters it by standing with himself. The journey of the psychiatrist teaches us that no one is that strong enough to not go through what the world fears. What matters is the will to fight, which we all carry ever since we entered the world.”
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Akash Dhanurkar, who is also a media student believes that if everyone in the world will talk and connect non-judgmentally then there will be no place for the depression to grow its root in our world that is consciously searching for peace amidst whirling negativity. Akash Dhanurkar is an author of two books on mental health, ‘Kanya – A green ocean of regression’, which is based on the life of his real sister, and ‘Living Letters’, which he dedicated to late actor Sushant Singh Rajput.