Alia Bhatt says her sister Shaheen Bhatt is brilliant.
Alia Bhatt’s sister Shaheen Bhatt opened up about her battle with depression and insomnia two years back in a long Instagram post. Now, with the news about celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and fashion designer Kate Spade’s suicide, she has once again penned down how she overcame her suicidal thoughts and fought the darkness within her. The article has been shared by Alia on social media with the caption, “Shaheen you are brilliant! My sister has battled and lived with depression since she was 12. She speaks her heart out and without any hesitation addresses the giant elephant in the room – Mental health and the LACK of our understanding & acceptance!”
In a blog, Shaheen has written for Vogue, she mentioned, “I’ve lived with depression since I was 12 years old and since then I’ve been suicidal on more than one occasion. I’ve experienced the sheer terror of contemplating a life filled with unrelenting anguish, and I’ve been consumed by the terrifying thought of having but a single means of escape from a bleak, unbearable future.”
Shaheen you are brilliant! My sister has battled and lived with depression since she was 12. She speaks her heart out and without any hesitation addresses the giant elephant in the room – Mental health and the LACK of our understanding & acceptance! https://t.co/ih0PmzujYl
— Alia Bhatt (@aliaa08) June 14, 2018
Daughter of Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan, Shaheen also talked about the impact of social media on young lives and how it “has given rise to a dangerous tendency to airbrush and filter our personal lives.” She wrote, “A year and a half ago I chose to talk about my own experiences with depression on social media and even though I had never hidden that facet of my life, I was concerned about the judgement I would receive. Social media has given rise to a dangerous tendency to airbrush and filter our personal lives. There is so much value placed on false ideas of positivity and emotional prosperity that we present our lives as immaculate highlight reels entirely devoid of substance, and altogether devoid of the aches and pains of what it means to be human.”
Though discussions about depression and mental stress have been initiated and more public figures have opened up about their battles with it, still depression continues to be a taboo. As Shaheen writes, “We don’t like to talk about depression because there is nothing romantic or glamorous about feeling like you’re losing your mind; no attractive selfies are waiting to be taken when you’re curled up crying on the floor, no witty one-liners are floating around your mind to tweet for likes.”
Encouraging people to open up about depression, she concluded, “Every minute that we continue to stay silent we lose one more person to the horrors of depression and suicide. Every second that we choose comfort over reality we fail another Anthony and another Kate. Talking about depression is no longer an option, it’s a matter of life and death.”