MUMBAI: Sushant Singh Rajput's death has once again made us discuss depression and mental health and how much awareness is still required. A happy, chirpy person can easily be depressed, but people around might not even have a clue. The symptoms of depression vary from person to person, and psychologist Jhanvi Sethi says that it can have both mental and physical symptoms. 

"Everyone’s experience of depression is different, not everyone who has depression will experience the same symptom. It can have both mental and physical symptoms. You only need a few of these symptoms to be diagnosed with depression, like feeling low mood swings, feeling worthless, physical aches and pains with no obvious cause, losing interest in activities you used to enjoy and loss of concentration, sleeping less or more, thoughts of self-harm or suicide. 

People with moderate or severe depression can also develop delusions, such as paranoia, hallucinations, such as hearing voices, but this is less common," she said. 

Jhanvi started her NGO, My Zindagi Foundation, in 2018, along with her actor husband Vikas Sethi and psychologist Dixita Mehta. She mentioned that due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, there has been an increase in the number of calls to their NGO. 

"There has been a tremendous increase in the number of calls especially during Covid times. We try to talk to the person calling in and simply hear them out. That's the first basic step and then we provide them support, guidance and counselling on the basis of their circumstance," she said. 

Jhanvi's foundation also provides counselling to school kids. Sharing details about the same, she said, "Our primary work with school kids is in explaining good touch and bad touch for kids under the age of 5 years. For growing kids between 11-13 we also provide them career counseling."

Do kids understand the concept of good touch and bad touch easily? "Inherently we all are capable of understanding the concept at a very young age. What is more important is the messaging around who does the kid go to and how can they express the same. Most kids under this circumstance are simply ashamed or vulnerable and completely unsure of what to do about it. So it's not the what but the how that needs to be addressed."

Jhanvi says her NGO works to empower people with mental health problems, and added, "For us, mind matters, and we treat mental health problems with kindness, love, and belief, belief that right kind of support and reliable information can improve lives. Through the NGO, we provide a whole range of counselling from depression, anxiety, marriage, relationship, criminal, pre-divorce and post-divorce, to name a few"

The field she is in needs a lot of patience and understanding, asked how she copes up with it, she said, "I ensure I stay mentally balanced and healthy myself to be able to withstand the need to be patient and understanding in my profession." 

"I am only human and it can be very fatiguing at times but I guess that's really a part of the journey I am on," Jhanvi concluded.