This is something very personal for me. My best friend committed suicide a little over three years ago and one of my family members are bipolar. It is very difficult on the family, but one thing I can say is that it’s important for family members talk about it because the more that you try to hide it and keep it hidden, I think the worse it is for the family overall. It’s like you’re constantly trying to live a life that isn’t true and instead of just dealing with it, it becomes a secret. That’s suffocating for everyone involved, especially the person that is suffering.
Mental illness is just like any other sickness. If you have cancer, you go see an oncologist. What’s wrong with going to a therapist or psychiatrist and getting treatment? Of course there are different levels to it. Some cases are more severe than others. Fortunately, I was able to deal with my depression from seeing someone and getting on my anti-depressants, and I was able to eventually ween myself off of it. There are things that I still do on a daily basis to just take care of myself, whether it’s just exercising or eating certain foods that lead to brain health. I just want to help educate the community and work with other organizations such as the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI). They do great work in the community, and I’m doing my first mental health fair in Atlanta on May 6. I have Morehouse School of Medicine on board, as well as some other wonderful people and we hope to jumpstart the conversation even more.
BDO: Last year I went to a therapist for the first time because I was in this weird funk and I realized all I needed to do was talk to someone. I just needed to talk myself through it.
Shanti Das: I’m so glad that you said that. Kudos to you for having the courage to do that because people think mental illness is, “Oh, something is wrong with me.” It can just be taking care of your mental health. Like with you, whatever you were going through, sometimes you just need to talk to someone. Some people may have it more severe where they need to go on medication and possibly be hospitalized, and that’s no different from other cases of diseases. At least you had the wherewithal to deal with it before it became a serious issue. Oftentimes traumatic experiences can lead to depression. There’s a lot of women who go through postpartum depression. Chrissy Teigen talked about postpartum depression just recently and what she had to go through and so many women have experienced it. And it’s not like something is wrong with you, it’s just a chemical imbalance within your brain and sometimes we need a little help to balance it out, or you may just need to talk to people.
I’m a member of a Baptist church here in Atlanta. My pastor was the first one to tell me, “You need to go and talk to someone. You can’t pray your way through this one.” Even though I am a Christian and I’m a faithful individual, I’m not perfect but I try to walk by faith, but sometimes you have to realize that you need more than prayer. You may need medication. You may need to see a doctor. We just try to encourage that.