 What I was also experiencing was this sort of hollow, you know, sort of empty, pittish feeling in my stomach. I would break into a sweat every now and then. I would just suddenly get into these sort of panic phases where I just felt like, you know, just, I needed to just get out and, you know, gas for breath. I asked one of my colleagues to give me a video from last year or the year before. On how this format actually runs. And then my colleague sent me a same session between Farid Zakaria and Anna Goodall. I hope you know both. And then I said, my gosh, I think I cannot be Farid Zakaria. I'm not a journalist, but not only I'm not a journalist, but he's a great journalist. But I also appreciated that I would be doing this because this is a rare opportunity, as I said, to meet Dipika and to ask her on many issues. Maybe she doesn't know, but I will tell her today, our lives almost crossed somewhere else, more than 20 something years ago. She was born in Denmark, but she left Denmark one year when you were one year old. And then I was trained on epidemiology in Denmark in 1988. So same place. And then I was really surprised. So who brought us together? Denmark is one and now, but this is, as I said earlier, great opportunity for me because as WHO, we really admire what you're doing. Thank you. You're an actress, you're a film producer, but more importantly for us, a mental health advocate and a successful one. And you have done a lot. And I was saying to your colleagues, triple L foundation, the leave, love and laugh. As you know, the very definition of health is health is a state of complete mental, physical and social well-being. It's not merely an absence of disease or infirmity, but as you also know, mental health is the most neglected. And people with mental health face severe human rights violations, stigma and discrimination. But not only that, around 80% of them, people with mental health conditions do not have access to mental health care they need. So the problem is really, really serious. And for someone like Deepika, to really take on this big cause is for WHO, such a great opportunity. And for me today, a great opportunity too. People like you, like Deepika will really change the tide. And I hope this moment will also increase the awareness, improve the awareness, and help people think about the enormous problem we're facing, especially with mental health, and decide to join your movement. So having said this and congratulating you for all your achievements and expressing my respect, for people maybe who may not be familiar with what you're doing, very strong advocate of mental health. But what triggered that? Why? Thank you for that lovely introduction. And good afternoon, everybody. Mental illness crept up on me when I least expected it. I think most often, or at least in my case, it comes with absolutely no warning signs. And I was going through a phase that, you know, the perception and the general understanding was that I was at a professional high. I'd had successful, you know, consecutive hits professionally at the movies. I was in an amazing relationship. My parents and my sister have always been, you know, extremely supportive of everything that I've done in my life. And so everything that we think should be okay in our life was going more than okay. It was absolutely perfect. And I remember waking up just one morning, leading an absolutely normal, or what I thought was normal. It started with, I fell, I fainted. There was a complete blackout. I fainted, I hit my head. And I used to live alone at this time. And luckily the house had arrived. And she saw me lying on the floor and, you know, sort of revived me. And then, you know, I gained consciousness. I sort of slept through the day, got an appointment with a general practitioner, went and saw him. He said, oh, it's nothing. It's probably just exhaustion or your BP just fluctuated. And that was it. That was sort of the physical symptom. But what I was also experiencing was this sort of hollow, you know, sort of empty, pitish feeling in my stomach. I would break into a sweat every now and then. I would just suddenly get into these sort of panic phases where I just felt like, you know, just I needed to just get out and, you know, gas for breath. And I would just cry, like, out of nowhere. I would just break down and cry with, there was no one really had to say anything to me or I didn't necessarily have to be in a specific place. I would just, you know, just, I could be in this room and suddenly just feel like I need to cry and express myself, you know. And then there were days when I just didn't want to get out from bed. I would just want to sleep and not wake up because to me sleep felt like my escape and I felt like I didn't have to deal with the reality of what I was experiencing. I didn't want to eat. I didn't want to interact with anybody. I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to go to work. I had lost, you know, motivation with absolutely everything. And fortunately, you know, my mother happened to be there a couple of months into this. My parents live in a different city and they had come to visit. And I was sitting in their room and they were packing up and ready to leave. And I had one of those moments where I was just watching her pack and I suddenly just, I broke down. And she looked at me and she said, what happened? Is everything okay? And I said, yes, everything was okay, but clearly everything was not okay. And, you know, she asked me the routine questions about is it my relationship? Is it something at work? And I just kept saying no. And I didn't know what to, you know, what was that one thing? I couldn't point my finger at it. And she immediately looked at me and said, Deepika, I think you need professional help. And that's when we called Anna Chandi who, you know, at the point was a family friend, but also a trained psychologist. And, but at that point, we felt like we wanted to share this with somebody who we could trust. Someone who was not going to, we were concerned about what the media was going to say and we didn't want to be seen outside a psychiatric clinic. So everything was hush, hush. I remember calling up Anna. She was in the middle of a personal crisis. She was traveling. And I called her and literally, you know, she asked me two questions and she said, I'm flying down to see you right away. You need professional help. You need to see a psychiatrist. And, you know, immediately, I think literally that same evening or the next day, she was on a flight, you know, she came to see me. We then, you know, together went to another doctor who finally diagnosed it as clinical depression. And I remember having after struggle for so many months of having to go about the motions of doing everything, you know, going about my professional engagements, having to speak at events, having to perform scenes, having to engage with people, having to do all of those things, but actually not being present. I remember feeling a sense of relief that, wow, at least now we know what this is that I was experiencing because I think that the toughest part in the journey for me was not understanding what I was feeling or not understanding what I was experiencing, not being able to explain to people what it is that I'm feeling. So if people would say, hey, how have you been? And I would have to lie and say, I've been great, I'm fine. When actually I was not feeling okay because I didn't have the strength and I didn't have the words to explain to somebody what I was experiencing. And so just the diagnosis in itself to me felt like a massive relief. At least now we knew what this was. But I think this is where my journey to recovery began because I think accepting what Dr. Sham Bhatt told me was equally an important part of my journey to recovery. And I think what I see around me very, very often is two things. For example, when my mother said, I think you need help. I could have easily rejected that and said, no, mom, that's crazy. This doesn't make any sense. I'm not seeking professional help. A, B, the other situation could have been my mother could have completely discouraged me from seeking professional help. So I think the two things that we managed to achieve here as a family is one, the fact that somebody close to me within my family recognized the signs and symptoms. One, two, encouraged me to seek help. Three, that I was open to the idea of seeking help. And I accepted the fact that, okay, if our body is sort of susceptible to illness, so can the mind. And I think that's when I understood the importance of the mind and the body and understanding that in the same way that we take care of our physical health, it's equally important for us to take care of our emotional health, our mental health. And then, of course, that's how my journey to recovery began. It is through, during that time, I realized that there was a lot of stigma. There was a lot of hush-hush. There was a lot of not wanting to share with too many people what I was experiencing. And I think all of those experiences made me reflect on why we were behaving, including myself, why we were behaving a certain way, why was I not telling somebody that I'm not feeling okay emotionally? Why is it that I was seeking professional help privately? Why was I not confident enough to do this publicly and with people spotting me? That's okay. And it was all of those experiences that made me think and reflect and say one second. I took a step back and I said, why have I, and why have me, and why have we gone about this this way? And I think that's when I realized the stigma and the lack of awareness that's associated with mental health and mental illness. And that's what led me to come out publicly with my experience with anxiety and clinical depression and subsequently setting up the Live La La Foundation because through that process, I felt like through an interview or through the press or through the foundation, if I was able to express the signs and symptoms that I experienced, and if there was even one person in this room who identified with those signs and symptoms and said, you know what? I'm going through the exact same thing, but I've not been able to put a finger on what it is that I'm going through. I wanted to make that journey that I had been through of the unknown, of not understanding what I was going through. I wanted to help somebody who's probably in that same situation, not understanding what they're going through and probably help them understand their signs and symptoms. And that was sort of the intention of going public with the illness and then also subsequently setting up the Live La La Foundation. Thank you. I mean, that is so moving. And one of the souls, actually, who saved herself, I think from your story, many young people can learn. We're losing a lot, 800,000 a year. And this is one of the largest killers of young people. It's serious and that's why. So what would be your advice to young people? What they should do for themselves and what they should do to help others? I think there's a lot of things that the youth can do. I think that we can do as individuals. I think to begin with, just to become a little more aware as people. So let me give this in two perspectives. One is, say, for someone like me who is experiencing anxiety and depression. I think if I feel certain signs and symptoms, whether it's restlessness, whether it's not being able to sleep, sleeping too much or lack of sleep, whether it's irregular, your eating patterns, are you eating less or are you eating more? Are you having suicidal thoughts? Are you now disinterested in the things that you really used to look forward to? Are you feeling a sense of sadness or low for a prolonged period of time? And I think it's very important to understand the difference between sadness and depression. Sadness is something that we all go through in our lives for various reasons, death, failure and exam, heartbreak. I think sadness is transient. Depression is not transient. I think depression sort of lasts for a much longer period of time. And I think that's when you realize that, okay, this is where I need to share. This is where I need to express. So for someone who's experiencing that, I think it's important at that very moment to share with somebody that you're close to. It could be a friend, it could be a colleague, it could be a family member, it could be a sibling. But I think the first step really is to share with somebody around you how you're feeling. I think for people around, it's important to not just sort of dismiss it as attention seeking. It's important for us to feel empathy towards the person who's telling us something. I think we all have now a habit of asking each other how we're doing without really listening to whether we actually, if I ask you how you're doing, am I actually interested in how you're doing? And would you be vulnerable enough to share with me how you're doing? So I think all of those things, I think just in the way that we engage with people on a daily basis, sharing with each other, understanding from each other, and then of course seeking help. So it's important for caregivers to encourage those feeling certain signs and symptoms to seek professional help. There is a lot of stigma, especially in our country, especially in India, there is a lot of stigma with regards to seeking professional help. Parents do not want to take their children to counselors or to psychiatric treatment because they're concerned about what other family members will think. They're concerned about what society will think. And I think, I've come across situations where there are people experiencing mental illness who want to seek help, but somewhere the family is not willing to allow them to do that. And sometimes it's the other way around where the parents want their children to seek professional help, and the child is resistant to that. In my personal experience, I think acceptance of medication. I think for me, it was a combination. Again, I'm not someone who can prescribe and say yes, you should take medication, but I will say that in my personal experience, it was a combination of taking medication as well as lifestyle changes that have led to where I am today, but it is also a constant taking care of myself. It is an illness that can come back, so I have to take care of myself on a daily basis. The amount I sleep, what I eat, exercise, mindfulness, all of those things are things that I still have to do on a regular basis to ensure that I don't go back into that dark world and dark space again. Yeah, thank you. I mean, from what you said, you triggered something, actually, from your programs, they say more than just sad. Yes. And then you're not alone. Yes. It's not just the campaign taglines. Yes. But just wanted to know, what do you mean by that? For me, the message is so heavy, but I wanted to hear from you because you started it. So more than just sad is, in the same way that I explained, that I think us trying to, as a foundation, explain the difference between sadness and depression. Sadness is transient. Depression lasts for, if you feel the signs and symptoms of that sort of heaviness lasting for more than two weeks, is when one should ideally seek professional help. So that is, I think it's important for us to understand the difference between sadness and depression. You are not alone is our campaign, but also something that I really, really believe in, and that's one of the things that organically came out the very first time I spoke about mental illness. I wanted every person experiencing mental illness to know that they are not alone. Because what happens is you always feel like you're fighting that battle alone. Because unlike a lot of other illnesses, there are no obvious physical signs or symptoms. It's all in your mind, most of the time. And so, if I met someone who's sitting here experiencing depression, I'm most probably, unless I'm a professional, will not be able to tell in this room who is experiencing depression. And you sort of end up feeling like you, you put a lot of pressure on yourself and you feel like you're the only one going through this. It comes with a lot of guilt. You start feeling like you're the only one experiencing this. You start feeling like, why is this happening to me? When the reality actually is that, and the statistics vary, one in three, one in four, one in five, people experience depression once in their lifetime. So, you are not alone is to reach out to people, to reach out to the youth, to reach out to adolescents and tell them that they are not alone in this journey. But if there's one message that I really want to drive home is that there is hope. If there's one thing that sort of drove me every morning to wake up and fight the illness, is that I saw hope. I felt like, there were days that I wanted to give up, but I think somewhere it was hope every day that would push me to the next day. And I kept saying, okay, this is going to pass. This is going to pass. So, yeah. So, why not because of that we ask one question? Either yourself, if you have experienced it, any mental health condition, a family, very close, or extended family, or anyone who knows starting from ourselves, can you stand up? Wow. Anyone you know, could be yourself, it could be a family, or it could be a friend. It may take time to remember sometimes. But it's more than 50% of the house actually majority. That's the magnitude of the problem. And I think to her argument, it makes no sense. I'm sorry, I didn't stand up for myself. I stood up also for knowing people who... Yeah. So, both of us stood. Nobody is immune. Nobody. We will know somebody close. And that's why with mental health conditions, nobody should be alone. Because we all experienced it, or we know someone close, we experienced it. And that's why I say that it's heavy. What you're saying is it really makes sense, but something that I also wanted to understand from you. Then maybe some issues about, if you can share with us about your foundation also. And not only the two campaigns, but I know you do more than that, including training of... So, can you tell us maybe about... So, we set up the Live La La Foundation in 2015. We actually started by setting up a comprehensive website which actually had all the information on what is anxiety, what is stress, what is anxiety, and what is depression. I'd say two of the key features that we have, that we set out to achieve was a sort of database of professionals in the field of mental health. And that is something our country didn't have. So, we actually spent months vetting and making a comprehensive database in terms of the professionals that are available in various cities. So, anyone experiencing any sort of distress could go on to the website and seek, look at the names or the kind of people and seek help. We also have tie-ups with various helplines. So, a lot of people would go on to the helpline and speak to different people from the helpline and seek help. And then, of course, the information on the website itself. The reason I mentioned this is because this is not something that was available before we set this up. We then set up our school's program where we speak to adolescents and educate them on the importance of mental health and talk to them about what mental illness is. We've covered over 150,000 adolescents and over 20,000 teachers. We have a program for general practitioners because we believe that general practitioners are the first line of defense. And unfortunately, in our country, a lot of the physical symptoms are not really correlated to emotional distress. We always try and medicate or try and cure the physical illness without understanding the correlation between the mind and the body. So, a sensitization program for general practitioners with regards to mental illness. We also do programs in rural India where we enable, you know, I think there are certain organizations in rural India that have been doing some phenomenal work. And I'd like to believe that the Live La La Foundation, apart from funding, has also enabled for a lot more work to be done. And we've recently started research and we also do, sorry, we also do research and we just in September launched a rural, sorry, a lecture series, an annual lecture series. And we did that in September for the very first time where we want to bring together people from different parts of the world who will help us shape the narrative with regards to mental health. Okay, so I will ask you also one advice. I hope you will continue to advise me. If you have just one advice for WHO, but we have just not even two minutes, under two minutes. I ask you to stand up and so on. So maybe I will reward you by giving you the opportunity to ask questions, maybe two people, lucky ones, two people. Okay, one here. So there is a man, so I will need the, yes please. All right, good afternoon everyone. Thank you for sharing Deepika. My name is Naim. I am a Lusaka Global Shaper from the Global Shapers Community. I'm a medical doctor, psychiatrist registrar from Lusaka, Zambia. And as the Global Shapers Community, we are a group of 20-somethings and we are more than 10,000 people. There's more than 420 cities all over the world. And we've got a project called Mental Health in Inclusion and Equity. And we're literally doing exactly what you're doing for the past five years. That's what our aim is. So we really like to commend you and congratulations on the Crystal Award. We're very, very excited for you and with you as a youth, the things that you're doing. But then coming back to the points that you raised at the first, to say you had options. But many- I said one question. Yes, many people don't have options. You know, you were lucky you have a privilege to actually get in touch with a psychologist. Yes. But many people don't have that. Yes. So what advice would you have for them? Because one in 40 seconds, as you know, and the second leading cause in 15 to 29 year olds. So what advice would you have for those youth? I actually would not in this situation have advice for them. I would actually say we have advice for us and for people, for stakeholders, for people in a place of power and influence. I think it's important for us to ensure that we have accessible and affordable healthcare. A statistic out of India, for example, for approximately 1.5 billion people, we have only about 4,000 psychiatrists. That's something that we as a nation have to look at. That's some, you know, and that's a statistic out of India. Less than, and on the higher side, less than 1% of a nation's health budget will be allocated to mental health, less than, and 1% is really on the higher side. So these are things that we have to look at. Yes, I do consider myself extremely lucky in this situation. Extremely lucky at so many levels. A, that I had my mother and someone so close to me who identified and recognized it. You know, and the fact that it was so accessible and affordable, and I think it's important for all of us in this room to make that possible. And that's why I brought it up yesterday during the speech as well. Okay, please. Just brief. Very quickly. People are nodding from... He gets a long one. Okay. But I'll keep it very brief. You know, congratulations. Once again, for having recognized the urgency and the importance of mental health, I have a question quickly that, you know, the good thing that happened is that you were able to, that you were not in denial, and you did reach out for that help. I know someone, and especially this is a case with men I've found, I know two men, that they have it. People are pointing it out, but they will not go for help because they see this as a huge defeat and in some way being very unmanly. And so won't go for help. What do you do with that? How do you persuade what you do? Oh, gosh, I don't know if I'm equipped to answer that question. If there are any psychologists, psychiatrists in the room, they're probably the right person, people to answer that question. Anna, do you want to answer that question? Yeah. But before she answers, I think as humanity, I think it's important for us to express ourselves. I think globally and especially in India, men are taught to not express themselves. Men don't cry. Men don't express. And I think those are the fundamental things that we need to change. But of course things like that, it's sort of entrenched in the way that we're brought up, that it's going to take generations for us to be able to change that. But at a more sort of urgent basis, I think I'll allow maybe Anna to quickly answer that question. Because there are different attitudes and prejudices for the stigma associated with mental illness. So very often as therapists, we engage with them continuously because one of the most important things to remember, sometimes the person who's suffering lacks an awareness as to what is happening. So it's a process. Okay. Thank you. So there is that one question from me. Which one? What advice for WHO? What advice for WHO? I would actually flip that on its head and say, what advice does WHO have for the Libla Vla Foundation? And what more can we do together? Yeah. To address this gentleman's question over here. I will use this opportunity actually. You have passed all my questions colourfully. So the next will be recruiting you. Meaning to work with your foundation very closely. You're making a difference. And in a very important area, you're fighting stigma. And that's the most important one. There is stigma in the community, even in the family, by the way. And there is even stigma more worse than in the health sector. And there is even stigma more worse than in the health system itself, the health services. And we have to fight stigma everywhere. And that needs all of us. It should be everybody's business. That's why WHO now puts mental health as a flagship initiative. And we need everybody. But yours, who have already done a lot, I think would be a great opportunity for WHO to partner with you. I had one last comment to make. I feel like if mental health can be included in our sustainable development goals, not just health, but mental health as well. And I would like to assure you that, starting from the Secretary General, the whole UN system is committed to this. And when you meet him one day, you will see. So the sustainable development goals of course belongs to countries. And we see a growing commitment, but not enough. So together we hope to make a difference. Namaste.