- Mihir Bhushan Bhole
- Jul 3, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 4, 2020
Friday 03/07/2020, Mihir Bhushan Bhole.
[Disclaimer: The interviewee (Sandip Dust) has agreed to allow publication of their name and details to S&S, and has allowed for a complete analysis of their words. This is a full written interview that I conducted for S&S and has been written from an Audio recording, available in full, to both the interviewee and S&S. Any Opinions stated by both parties are fully independent of the opinions of each other and should be treated as such. Any reference to Study Material, or External Media, shall be linked to inside the article, as well as at the end of the interview. This interview was not a medical counsel. S&S does not have the authority to publish or conduct medical counselling, and hence, should not be contacted for it.]
This is the full interview that I recorded on 28/06/2020. It has been divided into parts for ease of categorisation and media sharing.
Part 1: Your Relationship with a Bipolar Brain. Go to Part 1.
Part 2: Journey of Bipolar Disorder. Go to Part 2.
Part 3: The World of Mental Illness. (You are here)
Simple Summary: (Coming Soon)
Part 3: The World of Mental Illness.
Q. What do you think, are the major misconceptions that you’ve noticed in the people around you, or the Social networks that you’ve accessed, regarding Mental Health?
A. Mental health issues can originate due to physiological or psychological. Sometimes, issues can be cured simply by visiting a counsellor and talk to the person fully. Sometimes, medicines are the only way for you. Sometimes, a bit of both. What works for you, might not work for me, and vice-versa. Mental Health and Treatment of Mental Health is Personally attuned, and it has to be that way.
The biggest misconception, that the world has, is like, especially in the case of famous people, is that “This person has all the money, vehicles, fame etc.; then why would he/she be depressed?”
There, is the Misconception: “Depressed” and “Depression” are definitely not the same. “Depressed” is a synonym of “Sad”. “Depression”, however, is a sponge that soaks up all of your mental energy and doesn’t want to give it back. You won’t feel like doing anything, you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t wanna talk to people, you’ll just want to stay in your bed all day long, and do nothing. This is fully independent of being “Depressed”. Depression is more rooted in the emotional and hormonal imbalance. Your Brain makes you feel that way; even if you’re well set in life, you’ll still feel that way.
Think about Robin Williams, Chester Bennington. These are prime examples of suicide due to depression in high-profile people. They accomplished loads of stuff; yet they had depression, not because they were Sad, or “Depressed”. They had an illness. Their Brain makes them feel that living in this world is not worth it. Think, for example, about being hungry even after having a lot of food. Your stomach is full, yet your brain wants you to eat more. Similarly, you may have everything in the world, but your brain makes you feel like nothing, you amount to nothing, and you should end it.
Feeling sad or depressed after some sort of setback is very natural, but when it is persistent and threatens your very being, that’s when you should seek help. “Depression” is an illness, “Depressed” is a simple state of mind. Even if you were to think about Sushant Singh Rajput, you’d see. Maybe he wasn’t being selected, maybe he was blacklisted, maybe there were other psychological factors to it, that made him feel so helpless in the end, that he ended himself. No, you cannot just “talk someone” out of depression very easily, it involves proper psychiatric evaluation and assessment, and may or may not involve medication.
Q. What, then, is the best approach to ending these misconceptions, in your opinion?
A. Say, for example, people make educative posts regarding mental health, and these are spread across the world, then only can we end these misconceptions, and only then can we break the stigma of visiting a doctor. If we work hard on social media, and by “we”, I mean “All of Us”, we can surely do this.
Q. Did the subject of “Faith and Religion” play a role in your life during the disorder?
A. During my childhood, I’d fancy a lot of Christmas and related themes. In 2017, I got my baptism. Nobody coerced me or anything, I did it of my own accord. I used to read the Bible and do a lot of other things here in Kolkatta. If and when I read the Bible, it gave me Mental Peace, and some teachings allow me to be a better person. Heck, I studied it so religiously, that my Manic phase picked it up and fuelled it; it made me think I’m the Second Coming of Christ. Obviously that was a delusion; only a mad person would say that! The good side of this is that when I gained a bit of control over this all, and then read the Bible, then I could distinguish between the Manic ideas and reality.
Q. What message/insight would you’d give to someone in your stead?
A. Speaking up, or seeking help for Mental Health issues is kinda stigmatised. When you’d tell your friends that you’re going to a “psychologist” or a “psychiatrist”, they’d give you weird looks, or talk behind your back. Do not worry about them, because your Mental Health is very, very important; as important as your physical health. Suppose you broke your bones or had cancer, you’d definitely go to a Doctor; you’d talk about it to the people around you. It is exactly the same with Mental issues: you will get better if, and when, you seek help. If you’re in the same situation as me, first-off, you should seek medical help, which is a very important thing.
Remember to NOT self-diagnose; it is very dangerous to seek help via the internet. Proper Doctors will help you. If one doesn’t, go to the next. Sometimes, if you can’t really talk to the doctors, seek out friends who will understand. Definitely DON’T keep these things bottled up inside because that is exactly what fuels mental issues. Talk to someone you trust. Definitely don’t randomly contact people who say, “If you’re depressed, DM me.”, because that will change nothing. If you have Cancer, you can afford to stay home and say, “Aw man, I got Cancer” or something.
The first step, Go to Doctors; the second step, work step-by-step with the medical world. You need to learn to control your impulses with logic because only logic can break emotional reasoning. If, say, you’re thinking of killing yourself, you need to think, “Is this really necessary? Do I have a better chance, a better shot at life? If I have everything I’d need in life, why should I take this step?” Like, if you think about suicide, at least delay it as much as you can. Seek Medical help during this delay, because that will help you formulate a better opinion. If you feel suicidal now, delay the plunge, for a day, for a week, even more. Seek help, don’t shy from this. This is my strong recommendation to anyone in my stead.
Q. Anything else you’d like to add before we end this conversation?
A. Success & Failures are both parts of life. Our world showed us how to deal with Success, but it never taught us how to deal with Failure. Especially here in India, when you’re in India, if you fail big, you are treated as a Big Failure. I know, because I was treated like that. No Failure is final, right? I mean, there’s always another Chance! Even if you’re 40-50 years old, and you’ve lost everything in life, and no motivation to carry on, you WILL still find something meaningful in life. You should learn to enjoy the Up’s, and the Down’s of life. This is the mentality that people lack, because the majority think very short-term, instead of thinking what’s available to them in the Long run.
Remember, there’s always another Success to pursue, another Failure to Experience and Learn from.
This concludes the entire interview. In case you missed Part 1 & Part 2, please check them out by clicking on their links.
A simple summary will be coming soon.
Interview conducted by Mihir Bhushan Bhole for Simplified & Streamlined.
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