#22 - 13 reasons why!

The Himanshu Sachdeva Show

This episode is about anxiety, depression and some resources on how to cope with it.

Last year I watched a series called "13 reasons why!" on Netflix which talks about depression and suicidal intentions.

It hit me hard. Having been though a couple of episodes of rough patches and depressive moments, I could relate to it so much.

I was so much sad seeing the main character committing suicide in the series. Cause this is not far from reality, so many teenagers and kids entering into adulthood commit suicide. Why? The most important reason of them all is not getting support at the right time.

Do you have someone in your family who keeps away from social life or have been bullied in their school or college and you found them a little different from their usual being? This may be a sign.

The signs of depression may be visible or may not even be visible at times. But still if you are family to someone who is in depression or may be a close friend. You can look into the outer mask of smile and find that this person needs support. Sometimes, support may be just as small as talking to them and listening to them for sometime or may be just hug them and tell them they'll just be fine. But sometimes, when the depression goes undetected for long and this person cannot cope up with it, even with your support. That may be the time to reach out to a doctor to take some therapy sessions or may be even some meds. As a society we have created a stigma around therapy and psychology sessions. We need to collectively break out of this stigma and let everyone breathe. You never know when your own family, close friend or even yourself get into depression. So you should know these are the ways out of it.

If you are in depression or you know someone who is in depression or having a rough patch. Get support. It doesn't hurt and most of the people get out of it with right therapy and support.

Here are some resources, if you are facing one of these conditions and are feeling stuck –

1. 13reasonswhy.org
2. Here are The top 10 mental health apps to deal with anxiety.
3. There is long form blog post which I wrote earlier this year. Here is the link to that. It might help to know more about anxiety and depression and other types of the disorders.
4. Last but most important -
   Helplines in India –

• The Vandrevala Foundation helpline number – 1860 2662 345 / 1800 2333 330. These helplines are manned by trained professionals who can help. This is the only all-India 24×7 service available at the moment.
  (Following are three helplines based out of Mumbai but can be called from anywhere) -
  
• iCall ([phone]) available from Monday to Sunday 10 am to 10 pm,
  
• Samaritans Mumbai ([phone]) available from Monday to Sunday, 3 pm to 9 pm
  
• Aasra ([phone]) which is available 24×7.
  

Lastly, If you want to share anything with me, go to my website - https://www.himanshusachdeva.com/about/contact/ (about => contact page) and type HELP in the comment section and I’ll definitely get back to you and try to help in my capacity.