BENGALURU: World Health Day celebrations at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) got a fillip from Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone on Saturday as she spoke about depression cutting across class, urban and rural barriers.
'Let's talk Depression' is this year's theme of World Health Day.
"Depression affects urban and rural alike irrespective of age and economic background. We should help people with depression without prejudice and discrimination, and give them love and support," Padukone said.
"Dobara poocho (Ask again) is one of the public awareness campaigns to be a little more sensitive to the people around us, look out for those who might have mental health issues and guide them to take the right action. As you know even I have suffered from depression. We see a staggering number of depression cases increasing. We need to keep the conversation around it alive, make people feel comfortable, loved and stand by them, not shame them," Deepika Padukone said.
Talking about the Live Love Laugh Foundation set up in 2015 to champion the cause of mental health and reduce social stigma, she said, "We have undertaken mental health awareness programmes for school students, teachers, and general physicians.
So far, the foundation has reached 27 schools, 4,804 students and 1,332 teachers around the country." she added.
The foundation commenced a sensitisation programme on mental health for doctors in collaboration with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) as well as the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) reaching more than 2,000 doctors, with a target of an additional 5,000 doctors in 2016-17.