A mental-health awareness campaign powered by ideas

Pulitzer-winning author and oncologist Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee delivered a lecture on mental health at an event organised by Deepika Padukone’s The Live, Love, Laugh Foundation in Delhi.

 

 

The Live, Love, Laugh Foundation (TLLLF), is a charitable trust that was set up by Deepika Padukone in 2015. The foundation helps people experiencing stress, anxiety and depression, and it held the first edition of “Live, Love, Laugh”, a lecture series on
15 September at Delhi’s Taj Mahal hotel.

The maiden lecture was delivered by Pulitzer Prize winning author and Padma Shri Awardee, Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee. The aim of the annual lecture series is to invite the world’s foremost thinkers and achievers to present their ideas that could help shape the global mental health narrative.

The event also featured a video message by Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. “According to World Health Organisation, health is defined as a state of physical, mental, social and psychological wellbeing of an individual. It is not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. The definition itself makes it amply clear that mental health is an important component of the overall health spectrum. I wish to congratulate The Live Love and Laugh Foundation and Deepika Padukone for flagging this issue before Indian society,” he said.

The lecture was attended by several distinguished figures, including Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat; Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog; Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology; Dr Balaram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research; Professor Gagandeep Kang, Executive Director of the Translational Health Science & Technology Institute; Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India; and Shakti Sinha, Director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.

In his talk, Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee, spoke about how cancer in the ’5Os was a stigmatised illness with patients facing extreme discrimination, fear and neglect. He said, “When anyone was diagnosed with cancer, the blame for the disease was carried by the person themselves. Patients with cancer were pushed to the back of the hospital. Mental health issues carry a similar stigma.”

In his talk, he highlighted the three “forces” which he feels can together help us mount an effective campaign to address mental health-related issues. “The first force is political—for mental health to be recognised as a public health crisis, a national issue. There is a need to create national institutes of mental health. Stakeholders in the political domain must come together and work towards this common goal,” Dr Mukherjee said.

“The second force,” he added, “is social—this will entail advocacy and awareness around destigmatising mental health. The idea of ‘you bring the disease to yourself’ must be erased.

“The third and final set of forces is biological, genetic or pharmaceutical, to an extent. This entails making efforts and carrying out research to understand the molecular mechanism so that people would not be victimised.”

He spoke about how external factors, like the environment, play a significant role in determining our mental health. “Today, biological insights are being extended to mental health. For instance, there are 100 gene variances that contribute to schizophrenia yet there is a clear environmental aspect to this. The same is true for other mental illnesses as well. The challenge for the next generation thus lies in understanding these two components. I call this the yin/yang puzzle. While the yin—the genetic part—is solved, the Yang, or the environmental milieu, still needs to be addressed,” he said.

Dr Mukherjee noted that progress was being made on this front and that “there is more conversation, advocacy and philanthropy around mental health”.

Founder of TLLLF, actress Deepika Padukone said that the lecture series is an initiative to learn from some of the greatest minds of the 21st century. “It is important for people who are passionate about mental health to talk about their journey. Illnesses such as AIDS and cancer, have successfully managed to break through the stigma and I believe there is a lot for us to learn from those examples,” said Padukone, who has been very open about her past struggles with depression.

About the recent developments in the awareness of mental health, she said, “Four years ago, we wouldn’t even talk to our families about how we felt emotionally, let alone seeking professional help. Four years on, we as a nation, have come a long way in bringing that conversation to the fore.”

“Dr Mukherjee’s talk has laid the foundation for more such discussions and dialogues as we seek to expand the conversation on mental health. Having a speaker of Dr Mukherjee’s calibre deliver the inaugural Live Love Laugh lecture is extremely encouraging for us. Also, we are very pleased with the support we have received from our health minister Shri Harsh Vardhan ji as well as from senior decision makers in the government,” said Anna Chandy, chairperson, The Live Love Laugh Foundation.

“I am glad that the event was organised to destigmatise mental health issues. People do not want to talk about mental health and we need more people to open up. Unless we acknowledge the problem, we can’t find a solution,” said Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat.

He added, “Ayushman Bharat covers all secondary and tertiary health conditions including a large number of mental health conditions. Anyone with those conditions is provided free treatment. Ayushman Bharat covers the poorest 40% of the population in the country. This is the segment where mental health issues go unnoticed. Ayushman Bharat is going to help those who may not have received treatment for mental health so far.”