After Deepika Padukone, Tamil actor Akshara Gowda opens up about her struggle with depression

Hyderabad Feb 18 : Tamil actor Akshara Gowda is the latest celebrity to share her story about depression and how she overcame her mental illness. She has also appealed to others who are going through depression to come out and face the problem head-on, instead of suffering it alone.

“I was depressed. Today, I’m in the best phase of my life. All the therapies and medication helped me a lot. Even if my message reaches one person to voice out their depression and seek help, I will be very happy about it,” Akshara said during a Facebook chat organised by Seranti Organisation, founded by famous psychiatrist Dr. Shyam Bhatt, who also treated Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone.

Most of the people have very little or no knowledge about the problem of depression. The people who are suffering from the ailment think it as just a phase and hope they will get over it soon. Akshara, however, decided to share her struggle with depression in order to create more awareness among the public and encourage others to overcome their fear of the social stigma.“When I was depressed, I was not ready to speak about it. I was not very happy about being depressed. I thought it was something that I should hide. If you are unwell, you take antibiotics. You are okay with it and you tell the entire world by putting it on Facebook and Twitter. I think mental health is also equally important as it shows on your face. You glow when you are happy from inside.

“I am not the same person that I was a year ago. Today, I’m really happy. I’m ashamed that at one point in time, I had hidden it. When I talk about depression now, some people ask me like ‘were you even depressed?’ Yes, I was. It was so consuming that you are faking all the time with a smile. Today, when I smile, I am not faking it,” she said.

A couple of years ago, Deepika spoke about her struggles with depression and tried to help people to overcome it. The actor also helped to start a discussion on the problem even as many other celebrities shared their struggles with depression too. According to Seranti authorities, her revelation created a lot of awareness about the ailment and many realised that they also had similar symptoms and sought professional help.“Even If I was not an actor, I’d have voiced my opinion about it,” she said. “If you are depressed, it is not your fault. Please go and seek help. It is very, very necessary,”Akshara added.

Akshara said she got really better after she started talking to her therapist and now she is very content with her life. She made her acting debut with Ajith’s Aarambam and her latest film Bogan was also a success at the box office.