Unforgiving like you wouldn’t believe, learning to live with depression is something else. How do you debilitate those demons, then?
There’s been plenty of talk about mental health, lately. I’m glad. More than that, I’m relieved that many of us are finding safe spaces to talk about our struggles. Personally, I’m on the lookout to understand these issues better, take corrective measures and find that ‘balance’ – the kind that empowers you to function, every day.
Growing up, there was little to no talk about mental health in my home – I had my first tryst with depression when I was a teen (of course it wasn’t romantic). My parents took me to speak to a doctor except she wasn’t a trained therapist but a general physician. I don’t remember much about that encounter or if it impacted me, positively. Outside of my family, I observed that whenever people talked about someone going through mental-health-related issues, it was always done in an indifferent, unkind manner.
I believed the troubles I had as a teenager were temporary or as they say, ‘phases’. That I simply needed to shake the negative energy off and things would get better. In that sense, I learnt to self-prescribe – early on. (Not with drugs.) I took to plain, ol’ vigorous walking, every evening, and writing – though I didn’t know it to be a technique then (it was something that I unknowingly adopted to combat my depressive tendencies).
It is important, here, to note that the below techniques, however helpful, are small measures to effectively fight a bigger problem. (There is nothing like talking to a trained professional.) Some of these measures are what I’ve come to find solace in:
Artistic expression
Drawing and writing are activities immersive enough for me to lose myself in. My friend, Minila D’Souza (31), a pastry chef and writer – loves to drown herself in music and poetry during a difficult time. Some of my other mates have experimented with performance art (dancing/singing) and water-colours! (Painting with water-colours is something I’m keen to master – as well.)
Dance/movement therapy
I recently attended a DMT workshop, and would encourage more people to sign up for one. The session I attended had a mix of dancing and drawing, hopping-and-skipping, some yoga, and talking about anything we’d like to share.
Electronic chat/e-mail mediums
Should you be unaccustomed to traditional forms of therapy, this is something you might like on account of it being both accessible and fairly inexpensive.
Meditation and mindfulness
There are apps that you can download on your phone – they work by reminding and teaching you to decompress for a couple of minutes, every day. I have the Headspace app on my device; another app that I like is called Calm.
Support groups
(These are so good!) One that I like is an initiative started by my friend, Sonaksha Iyengar (23), an artist and writer based in Bangalore. Called the #GardenOfKindness – through it, Sonaksha hopes to create safe spaces online for people to create art and co-exist. The aim is for people to learn how to be more accepting, kind and mindful in their daily interactions with one another. She recently conducted the first offline session at a public garden in Bombay which I attended; it was like a sacred circle, and there – we happily indulged in making undisciplined art and expressing ourselves further through telling our stories and truths (if we felt comfortable sharing them etc.).
About the author-
Deeply fond of black coffee, dawdling at bookstores and snail mail (receiving and sending) – Roanna Fernandes likes all things simple and somehow quaint. She hopes to open her own shop of curiosities, one day and fill it with all that she creates and curates.