Guest column: Sidhartha Mallya on mental health being “not just a rich man’s problem”

In his new book, the actor talks about two reasons why thinking of mental health as a ‘privileged thing’ is an issue

There seems to be a notion amongst certain groups in society that mental health is some sort of ‘privileged problem’, or that only people from certain types of backgrounds can either suffer from issues of mental health, or can actually do anything about the things they are suffering from.

In his book, Sidhartha Mallya (above) talks about going through depression in 2016, and how he would continually try and talk himself out of it (esse Bainbridge)

I can understand why people may harbour this belief. Getting help can be costly. But saying that mental health is a ‘privileged’ thing is dangerous on many levels. Here are two reasons why I think so.

There is always help

If someone does not have the means to access therapists or medication, then buying into the belief that mental health is only for the privileged can easily make a sufferer feel there is no hope for them, or that they won’t be able to get the help that they need. This simply isn’t true.

While therapy is a great way for someone to deal with what they are going through, it is by no means the only way. Books, workbooks, online resources are other ways to get help, and they are available to everyone at minimal cost. Other self-care activities such as yoga, meditation, exercise or simply going for a walk are also things that can help a person, and these are available to everyone at no cost!

Now, of course, what I’ve mentioned may not work for everyone. For instance, it took me years to finally start to embrace meditation! But I just want to highlight that there are often many resources beyond what we might expect, ready and available to us. We just have to be willing to look and find what works for us.

Sidhartha Mallya’s book

No one is immune

If you come from some kind of privilege, then the belief that ‘mental health is a privileged problem’ can also be problematic. This is because a sufferer might not actually feel they have the ‘right’ to feel the way they do because everything from a material point in their lives seems fine. This can lead them to feel guilty about the way they are feeling—something that I personally experienced.

In my book, I talk about the depression I went through in 2016, and how I would continually try and talk myself out of it. Here is an extract of what I wrote:

‘Come on, Sidhartha, snap out of it. You’re young. You’re healthy. You have great friends. You have a great family. You’ve just come out of one of the world’s best drama schools. You have the world at your feet. You have all these opportunities. You’re so fortunate. There are people in the world way worse off than you are. Stop feeling like this!’ I would continuously run this monologue through my head and I would beat myself up in the hope that I would somehow magically snap out of it. But not only did it make me spiral even further down the rabbit hole, it made me feel super guilty as well for the way I was feeling.

As you can see, I was beating myself up and feeling guilty for the way I was feeling because I had bought into the belief that I somehow didn’t have the ‘right’ to feel the way I did because of the life I was living. I quickly learnt that having great friends, a great family, roofs over our heads and food on our tables does make us fortunate. But not immune to mental health issues.

This is one of the main points I try and get across in my book, and if this article leaves you with anything, then let it be that mental health doesn’t discriminate based on age, gender, religion, upbringing, financial background, etc. Anyone can be vulnerable to mental health issues because we are all human!

I personally believe that everyone can suffer, everyone has the right to suffer, and everyone has resources available to help them. Hopefully, the more we get people talking about what they are going through and embracing their truth, the more we can do to end the stigma sadly still attached to the subject of mental health.

Sidhartha Mallya, 34, is an actor and the author of If I’m Honest: A Memoir of My Mental Health Journey

From HT Brunch, October 10, 2021

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