My Story: 'I Lost My Best Friend To Suicide, And Then My Journey With Mental Health Began'

On 16th October 2017, I was resting up in my bed because of a fever when the phone rang. A few minutes later, my mother came into my room and informed me that my best friend had taken her life. The memory still paralyses me. It took a few months to find out the reason for her to take such a drastic step, and in those four months, I was undergoing some physical health issues. Therefore, I spent a lot of time wondering why she did what she did. During that time, I was diagnosed with mild atypical depression.

Fortunately for me, my experience with depression was not very severe and that is why it did not last for long. However, in that very mild encounter with depression, I realized that mental illness is something nobody should ever face. I decided to do something on my part for the cause of mental health because dealing with mental illness can be a very, very lonely process, even if you are surrounded by people.

Maternal Mental Health And Postpartum Depression

After 2017, I started reading extensively about psychology and mental health, and in that period, I came across the much-ignored topic of maternal mental health. When I started reading the statistics, and personal accounts of women who had experienced post-partum depression, it hit me that enough people were not talking about it. The fact that in case someone faces mental health issues during, or shortly after their pregnancy, they may not be able to build a bond with their newborn child stuck with me.

This hit home because the idea that a mother could have ill feelings towards her own child went against everything I knew about motherhood. From the woman who was suicidal and was being pressured to have a baby early to the woman who was too depressed to bond with her newborn - each story I read cemented the fact that these silent struggles needed to be addressed.

Anvita with the Commissioner of Health and other dignitaries from the health department

I Raised The Flag Of My Victory

Over the last four years, I met with experts from the mental health community, interacted with survivors, and in May 2021, I finally launched my petition on Change.org – all in the effort to make that idea come to life. After 8 months and 20 days, I finally raised the flag of my victory.

I started this petition on 29 May 2021 with a simple task to the government of my state, Karnataka – to conduct mandatory screening of mental health in all perinatal women in Karnataka. I met with the Commissioner of Health, Government of Karnataka, to deliver my petition and discussed 4 recommendations to scale up Karnataka's maternal mental health programme to become accessible to all perinatal women.

I want this victory to act as a precedent for the fact that you do not need to have experienced a problem to become a part of the solution. If I, a 22-year-old, who is nowhere close to becoming a mother, can lead a campaign on maternal health, you can do it too.

If you too have an inspiring story to tell the world, send us your story at mystory@thelogicalindian.com