Bollywood actress Ileana D’Cruz says that there was one point in her life when she was having a suicidal thought. She says that depression is very real and she believes that it creates a chemical imbalance in your brain and that needs to be treated as soon as possible.
On the final day of the 21st World Congress of Mental Health, Ileana was awarded the Women of Substance Award for all her efforts she did towards raising the awareness about the mental health. The Organizing Chairman of the Mental Health, director of CIMBS India, Dr. Sunil Mittal says that depression and anxiety are the two very common things.
Ileana says that 60 million people in India live with the depression and it is very challenging for them to know that they are in a depression. She says that there are most of the people who suffer in silence, out of guilt and they are not able to realize that they are suffering from depression. She feels that she is a woman of substance that she not only decided to fight against it but she has also encouraged the other people to seek help, raise awareness, and she is trying to dispel myths in her own way.
Moreover, she said that she is a very self-conscious person and she is picked on for her body type. Ileana says that there was a time in her life when she used to feel low and sad all the time but she did not have any idea that she is suffering from a depression and Body Dysmorphic Disorder until she got the help. All she wanted that everyone should accept her and there was a time in her life when she even had a suicidal thought and she wanted to end things.
She said that later everything has changed when she accepted herself and what she was going through at that time and she feels that was her first step she took in fighting with depression. Sitting back and thinking that you will be okay is not the solution one should go and seek help. She says that if you are having a sprain then you go and get yourself checked in the same way if you having a depression then you should go and seek for the help.
However, she is not saying that she had a miraculous recovery. She feels that every single day is a process, every day is a step towards healing yourself and getting better. She believes that after all we all are a human being and we are allowed to be imperfect and you are even allowed to be flawed. She feels that there is a lot of beauty in being an imperfection and in your uniqueness. She even reveals that most of the people look at them as an actor and think that they are so pretty and they are so perfect but she feels that it is not how it looks it approximately takes two hours to get her ready and look like this. She says that everyone should be proud of themselves for who they are and if you are happy from within then you are the most beautiful person in this whole world and she thinks that the best asset is your smile.
She thinks that everyone should be happy and if someone thinks that it is ok not to be happy then they are thinking wrong. She believes that everyone needs to embrace every single day and everyone should make their mental health their priority like most of the people do for their physical health. Moreover, she says that anxiety disorders and depression are not something which they should be ashamed of. She would not able to know that she is suffering from it until her partner told her to seek help. She even visited a psychologist just to prove her partner wrong and make him understand that her struggle is real.
Ileana says that when someone is in depression he/she is not the only one who struggles with it she feels that along with them their loved ones suffer too. She says that her mother has been her biggest pillar of strength through this process and she feels that she is very blessed that she has a mother backing her.