Why do we need a pandemic to focus on mental health, questions Shama Sikander

As someone who has battled depression and bipolar disorder, Shama Sikander rues how the topic of mental health gains prominence only when there is a crisis like a pandemic.

As someone who has battled depression and bipolar disorder, Shama Sikander has been very vocal about mental health issues. But the actor laments how the topic gains prominence only when there’s a crisis like the current pandemic, and is forgotten when things are normal.

Shama Sikander wants people to focus on issues around mental health all year round

“Even during the last lockdown in 2020, everyone spoke about mental health because suddenly they realised it was important. The moment the lockdown ended, everybody forgot about it. There was no importance attached to mental health at all. Yeh jo baar baar hum chhod rahe hain, it’s not going to work,” she rues.

Pointing at how the discussion around mental health came back in focus only after the second wave of Covid-19 hit the country, the actor insists we need to talk about it on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s not going to go away. I’ve recently seen big celebrities resume the dialogue around mental health. Suddenly it has become the talking point. But I’ve been talking about it all year long. It should be talked about all the time, lockdown or no lockdown, pandemic or no pandemic,” she says.

Sikander, 39, feels it’s the duty of every person to make sure that people around them — who they know or those who’re fragile — are doing fine during these testing times.

“You just get busy with worldly thing and think that you’re fine. But you’re not. You need to heal. People are suffering from within. I wonder when are we going to realise that mental health is the most important thing, not just during the tough times,” she adds.

As for herself, the actor is using this time to heal and meditate to keep dark thoughts at bay, something that she recommends others to do as well.

“I’m a very spiritual person and I’ve been meditating more and more in the past over one year. It has made me more accepting of this situation. The catastrophe has happened for us to realise how fragile life is and how we need to stop and understand and value life more, and value what life is offering us,” she concludes.