New Delhi: Actor Deepika Padukone today said her battle with depression in the past has been "such a bad experience" that she always carries a fear of relapse. The 31-year-old actor was interacting on the stigma surrounding mental illness at India Economic Summit here.
"I don't think I can say that I'm completely over it (depression). There is always a fear at the back of my mind that I might have a relapse because it has been such a bad experience for me," Padukone said at the India Economic Summit here.
When asked whether opening up about depression had cost her movie roles, Deepika said she was unsure but there might have been some producers who did not approach her. "Maybe there are people who haven't offered me films because they think I was depressed and I can't act. Maybe, I don't know. I'm in a good space because I can choose the movies that I want to act in, but I don't think everyone has that luxury of where they want to work or when they want to work," she said.
Batting for the introduction of mental health as a part of the curriculum in schools across the country, she said the idea will help do away with the stigma attached to it. "A large part of the stigma comes from the fact that we (just) talk about physical education in schools. I had physical education in my school, but we didn't have anything to talk about mental health. It's not a part of the curriculum.
"If we included that in the curriculum and introduced the idea or the importance of mental health at school level, there will be no stigma," the actor said. Deepika, who is also the founder of 'The Live Love Laugh' foundation, said policymakers and people at workplaces need to recognise and normalise depression so that those suffering from such mental illnesses could come out and confide without the fear of losing their jobs.
Elaborating upon her decision of going public with her battle with depression, Deepika said, "I didn't think about the repercussions. The idea really was to change the way people in India and the world see mental illness". PTI
