World Economic Forum Honour For Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone talks about her “love-hate relationship” with mental illness at the World Economic Forum.

Transcript

00:00In the time that it has taken me to accept this award, the world has lost one more person to suicide.

00:09Every 40 seconds, one person dies by suicide somewhere in the world.

00:15In the time that it has taken me to accept this award, the world has lost one more person to suicide.

00:37That person may have been a father, a mother, a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a friend, a family member or a colleague.

00:50Every 40 seconds, one person dies by suicide somewhere in the world.

00:58That is the estimated impact caused by anxiety and depression on the global economy.

01:0615th February 2014, I vividly remember waking up with a hollow feeling in my stomach.

01:16I felt empty and directionless.

01:20I had become irritable and for someone who loves to multitask, making decisions suddenly felt like a burden.

01:28I would cry endlessly.

01:31Waking up every morning had become a struggle.

01:34I was exhausted and I often thought of giving up.

01:40My mother, who recognized that something was amiss, insisted I seek professional help.

01:48Subsequently, I was diagnosed with anxiety and clinical depression.

01:53Through my journey to recovery, as I began to understand the stigma and lack of awareness associated with mental illness,

02:01I felt a deep need to save at least one life.

02:05And it was this very need that motivated me to go public with my illness and set up the Live Love Laugh Foundation.

02:14Mental illness has presented us all with a very tough challenge.

02:19But in my love-hate relationship with the illness has taught me so much.

02:26To be patient for one, that you are not alone, but most importantly, that there is hope.

02:35For in the words of Martin Luther King, everything that is done in this world is done by hope.