Why Is Mental Health a Taboo? | Tejaswini Vondivillu | TEDxYouth@Gachibowli
okay now everybody is familiar with the concept of mental illness with whatever by this understanding that we have of what it entails right now in the Indian context the attitude towards the mentally ill is simply pathetic to mine we put it here are some common statistics one in five people are depressed there's 56 million Indians for diagnosed for depression and another 38 million who are crippled with anxiety disorders what's worse suicide suicidal attempts that are common by the passing over is so common every day that it is big it's almost scary to admit that it is becoming normalized in our society now when we look at these statistics our common a reaction towards this is sympathy yet a crucial question that we need to consider is what do we do except sympathize nothing most of us come up with whatever explanation that suits our values our beliefs and our perception of the society yet what do we why do why are we so reluctant in actually seeking our professional help and telling other people the answer can be summarized in one statement our brains are hard-wired to be lousy scientists but make exceptional magicians in other words the answer lies in stereotypes I'll come back and explain why I made that statement now India is a country with diverse cultures norms attitudes and values so we know what stereotypes are we know the negative effect it has on us and how it encroaches into our personal lives we all know that stereotypes enable any day we are judged we are labeled and so we behave accordingly in certain situations right now in the context of mental illness for example we have a fairly there an idea of what it is likely to be depressed yet it remains a taboo topic in our family right now when we say boys are better at math there is the the attributable skill good at math and the group boys and we come up with a serial type boys are better at math it seems simple and really stupid but that's how it actually works all right and now what I am saying saying all of this you're all processing and storing into what cognitive psychology terms as mental schemas now what are they they are essentially representations of reality and they help us make sense of the world around us now why is this useful think of them as a bunch of files what are files meant for we categorize large amounts of information into different folders and when we need them we go back and look back because it's so definitely organized into different folders similarly our brain categorizes information in terms of people events experiences and practically anything from the world around us into these mental schemas and right now as you're hearing all of this your brain is consciously or unconsciously rather creating an opening of this new mental schema of stereotypes now this will guide and change how you think and perceive the world and this is essentially how your typical behavior essentially emerges now how are they actually form stereotypes right so Hamilton and Guilford these two psychologists claim that stereotypes are a result of illusory correlation it's a fancy cognitive term for what for when people see a relationship between two variables even when there's none it might sound extremely absurd because how can want someone possibly see a relationship and that is none right but essentially if you look at this diagram you're all Indians we all know that the black hat the familiar black hat and the black our bad luck story right black hat bad luck there is no relationship between them yet we have come up with such a random Association that if a black hypothesis your path it brings you bad luck is there any rational basis to it no precisely this house here types are formed and this is how they pervade in our society and they are usually harmful especially in terms of the Indian context right now when I say these random associations and random connects what I essentially mean is it is human tendency okay well yeah so all of these statements right that have two seemingly two seemingly unrelated variables it is a result of what cognitive psychologists call cognitive bias which is basically a Tannen judgment so every single of these statements have to wear your books that are not seemingly correlated but in the minds of those classical stereotypes that we have it is an extremely strong Association which pervades in our society today and explains why India is like the way it is today and when I say these random associations and random connects right it is human tendency to process whatever sensory information that we get and form random associations between them all right it's an extremely unconscious process because we humans do not like to spend too much energy on thinking we are cognitive misers and it's an evolutionary process because of which we are cognitive misers today but Scott Fraser a cognitive psychologist also says that our brain abhors a vacuum so as much as we hate spending too much time on thinking we cannot stand it if there is an incomplete information from the information that we perceived so now what does our brain do from what we already know which is from the mental schemas that I was talking about and from what we already don't know which is the gap that it forms it is filled by other random information from what we already know all right so this information is who you are where your cultural affiliation is what kind of experiences have shaped you as a person and essentially all this is I mean this is an extremely unconscious process of forming false associations right yet it ironically guys the most important behaviors all of this is an example of stereotypical behavior now to facilitate your understanding of whatever I just said think about it this way you see a girl yelling at someone who you perceive to be older than her you perceive the girl you perceive the older person and you perceive that the tone that she is using to address the other person is disrespectful now how do you know is disrespectful your cultural affiliation being Indians tells you that you know yelling at someone words and disrespectful so you don't stop to bother thinking about what the person I mean why the person behaved the way she did nothing all you do all your brain does is associate that this person has yelled at someone older than her so she is disrespectful it takes one incident one random observation to form a powerful stereotype right now every time you see some you know girls or people kids around our age yell at someone who's already knows what does your brain do it's an unconscious process the false association that you have forms a powerful stereotype you think oh my god look at her she so disrespectful of the other she has absolutely no regard for her what harm denied what all of us think right so essentially this is how Syria is formed now when for me because I grew up in my family where I had no idea that I was depressed for the longest of time at first mental illness to me seemed like a joke right because I had no idea whether I was fine because I was fine or I wasn't fine now I was diagnosed with scalp psoriasis it's a skin disease that comes with a compelling condition where you cannot entertain too many negative emotions alright so I was forced to control anger frustration sorrow and all these kind of emotions and I was persistently unsatisfied I couldn't exactly snip my way through emotions so I started forcing them under the carpet I started brushing them aside all right now I couldn't ever approach my parents because to them I was fine because my my childhood dictated that my parents would never take me seriously and I couldn't approach my friends because I try it and they didn't exactly understand me so it was a negative feedback loop of constantly brushing my feelings aside I started becoming numb to emotions I started reacting mechanically the things around me and I even started entertaining suicidal thoughts now the irony here is rationality dictated to me that sooth that being suicidal is not normal but because of the strong influence of stereotypical thinking in my house I didn't think beyond the fact that it is not normal I entertained it as perfectly normal and in fact I lived in a constructed reality where I thought I was perfectly happy all the time so I quote I can't even blame my parents because obviously to them I was perfect I was happy all the time so the occasional emotional outbursts that I had was a result of 10th grade stress or whatever it was disregarded severely right and I obviously had no idea that I was depressed or whatever I kept constantly brushing it aside I used to question why am I not feeling happy why am I not reacting to it a certain way but I could never answer and I could never construct and look beyond the boundary of normal or abnormal if you want to call it right and this is what it boiled down to I knew that I wanted to talk to someone I knew I wanted to approach someone but I never could because I was scared of being judged I was scared of being labeled I was scared of being stigmatized I was scared of being hurt and betrayed again and this is my story but I know a lot of my friends who have been through similar stories and who couldn't approach anyone because of similar incidences and this is all thanks to stereotypes now Syrio types are a powerful phenomenon if the enormity of how far the our brain actually is has strike you you will realize why I made that statement earlier we observe phenomenally we observe all the intricate details as scientists are expected to but if we cannot make sense of the information our brain does abracadabra puts in somatic filter some information and it's the most powerful serotype in society that's why I said our brains are hard-wired to be lousy scientists but are exceptional magicians now to overcome the stereotypical thinking all it takes is to engage in reflective thinking oh I'm pretty sure all your English teachers here have taught you the five W's in one age right how why what when where so if you're able to rationalize with yourself when you decide to behave towards someone you perceive to be mentally ill your brain immediately dictates to you that it you know you're supposed to averse from them and just because you think that I don't know they're dangerous is create they're crazy they're stupid they whatever you think it is if you take back a minute to you know actually you lash nice with yourself you will realize how irrational your brain actually is not it's not a fault of your brain or that it's an extremely unconscious process it is meant to help us organize large amount of information and make meaningful connections but if you stop for a moment and think about why how when where who whatever you will realize that it is not as bad as it seems all it takes is a little love and support not to try and understand what they're going through but to be there for them and make them feel loved make them feel inclusive and make them feel understood this is what I lack and I know personally a lot of my friends here who lack the same thing right we are so scared of being judged and being understood that we go and you know make irrational decisions and I was this close to committing suicide right but so I mean even it's the same with my friends and I had to stop them but otherwise it this is what it takes but all it takes is a little love and support from your side so it's not too much it's it takes willpower to change how you think but how you think will actually influence how the society works and we can bring the change so start by being the change thank you [Applause]