up you fear of losing the friends & family that you depend upon, through stigma & not knowing how to react. And that’s not necessarily an evil trait, it’s more human in that there’s only so much people can help before impacting on your own sanity. And that bottling up of issues, trying your best to take each day amongst the dark thoughts of self-harm & suicide destroys you more.
KISHAN RAMSAMY ‘..sometimes it’s about their pride. They don’t feel like they should tell someone because of what others may think.’ – @MonicaK92, Monica Kumar. ‘So true. It’s nearly always about what other people think.’ – @Nish_Panchal, Nish Panchal. ‘I think they do open up but they are very selective to whom, and I find that they often seem to have trust issues which hold them back. My brother is comfortable with talking openly because my dad made it ok to be that way. So many things have happened to us and there has been depression in my family, but we know we can always turn to each other. More Asian families need to have that openness. It starts with the parents setting the example IMO.’ – @ Jyojo_B, Jyoti Badwal
Ultimately we need to be a more caring society across the spectrum to allow us to provide proper genuine support without stigma. But easier said than done when so many of the good people out there themselves have their own challenges & scars to bare for life.’ @BrokenSoulBoy, Kishan Ramsamy The social experiment gathered opinions from twentyfive people of various nationalities and backgrounds. Although this first-hand analysis was extremely small-scale, the overwhelming response was that of pride and appearance: the self-conscious nature of wondering what people will think and say about us, is a reason why we dismiss something like depression – it shows weakness. It is not weak. In fact, opening up and admitting you think you may suffer from depression takes incredible mental strength, and courage. In 2013, CALM will be actively working more within the Asian communities of London, spreading the awareness and eradicating the stigma surrounding ‘depression’. Depression IS curable, suicide IS preventable.
‘Is there a cultural element? To a degree, whole expectations of our family & community expect us to be resilient, absorb the pain, and seeking help or opening up, causes great dishonour amongst your family and community. It could make your circumstances worse. Many of our parent’s generation went through so much turmoil, poverty, forced marriages, racism etc. & overcame many obstacles. In comparison to all those sacrifices made, there’s no sincere support for Asian guys to seek help without being considered a disgrace. There are wider points that transcends cultural issue and affect all of us. Many times people are dealt with such a raw pack of cards that not even their friends or family can understand or help them with. By trying to open
18
thecalmzone.net - CALMzone Helpline London: 0808 8025858 Outside london: 0800 58 58 58
NISH PANCHAL