Stories

My struggle with mental health…

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My struggle with mental health began at an early age. It wasn’t until I started learning more about mental illnesses and mental well being that I realized I had been struggling with general anxiety and depression for a long time. The paradigm shift between understanding mental health and mental illnesses as issues and not just “who I was” or as “just being emotional” took a lot of effort. Dealing with mental illness or bad mental health wasn’t easy then, and still isn’t easy now. Finding people in a culture that doesn’t really acknowledge mental issues as problems is challenging and leads to greater insecurities and personal issues. When the people closest to you think you’re just being dramatic or don’t really understand what you’re going through it leaves you in a tough place. Be the friend that educates themselves and starts that conversation.

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In alignment with our mission to encourage others to #SpeakUp about mental health, we’ve created this blog – a passion project highlighting those who wish to share their stories with the world.

Open to anyone, the series features personal anecdotes from members of the South Asian community who have struggled with mental illness – and the stigma that comes along with it.

To submit your story, click here.

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Check it out! We’ve partnered with @anisehealth

Check it out! We’ve partnered with @anisehealth to bring you the latest episode of the MannMukti Mental Health Podcast!🎙️
Anise Health is a culturally-responsive digital mental health and wellbeing platform dedicated to meeting the unique needs of communities of color.
Many of us struggle with setting boundaries in our personal and professional lives, which can leave us feeling resentful and burnt out. It’s not always easy, but learning to set boundaries is essential to our well-being! 🧠
In this episode we are joined by Nisha Desai Co-Founder of Anise Health and Marisa Nagin - licensed marriage and family therapist to explore the art of setting boundaries, what it means to set and hold a boundary, why its important and we’ll be sharing some real life examples and expert insights to help you cultivate healthy boundaries and empower you! To listen now check out the link in our bio!
#mannmukti #anisehealth #southasianmentalhealthawareness

Random acts of kindness can go a long way in impac

Random acts of kindness can go a long way in impacting not only someone’s mental health but your own as well! 🪁
What random act of kindness did you participate in or experience that put a smile on your face? 🙂
#randomactsofkindness #mentalhealth #southasianmentalhealth

We’re backkkk! 🎙️ *NEW SEASON* of the MannM

We’re backkkk! 🎙️ *NEW SEASON* of the MannMukti Mental Health Podcast is live!! 🚨 check out our latest episode to hear our podcast team react to the @netflix documentary STUTZ which shared a candid conversation between actor Jonah Hill and his therapist Phil Stutz. Have you need the documentary yet? We would love to read your thoughts on it below! ⬇️
Full episode link in bio 🪁
#southasianmentalhealth #fyp #southasianinfluencer

This #GivingTuesday we invite you to support MannM

This #GivingTuesday we invite you to support MannMukti's mission in raising mental health awareness in our community. Your general donation will be used to support our online services, grassroots events, and other service-related projects that promote self-care and help the effort in removing the stigma that surrounds mental health.
You can find the donation link in our bio.
We would also like this opportunity to thank our followers who have donated and supported our mission. You play a pivotal role in our success and we are grateful for your ongoing support.
Thank you!
MannMukti 🪁

It is not always easy to talk about our mental hea

It is not always easy to talk about our mental health struggles. The caring folks at @crisistextline are there for your help. You can now text MANNMUKTI to 741-741 to reach a crisis counselor now. It’s free, 24/7, confidential. 🪁 #BreakTheStigma
Feel free to share and help break the stigma surrounding mental health! 🪁

*WE HAVE SOME BIG NEWS*! 📣 MannMukti has rece

*WE HAVE SOME BIG NEWS*! 📣
MannMukti has recently partnered with the Crisis Text Line, a group that provides free 24/7 high quality text based mental health support and crisis intervention.
By texting “MannMukti” to “741-741” you will immediately be connected to a crisis counselor, a trained volunteer that can help provide support.
A crisis doesn’t just mean thinking about ending your own life. A crisis is any painful emotion and anytime you need support.
If you are in need of support and want to talk to someone the Crisis Text Line always has someone available to talk to.
Mental health resources aren’t always the easiest to access to but the Crisis Text Line has helped in reducing those barriers to access by making sure that people are able to get the help they need when they need it.
Please feel free to share! 🪁

It’s Suicide Prevention Month🪁 Here are a few

It’s Suicide Prevention Month🪁 Here are a few affirmations that may help you out of a negative thought spiral. Do not hesitate to ask for help and call or text 9-8-8 for further support 💙
Please share to raise awareness 🪁
#mentalhealthawareness #southasianmentalhealth #mannmukti #affirmations #mentalhealthaffirmations

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mi

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mission to encourage healthy, open dialogue of South Asian mental health, we would like to highlight our #HumansOfMannMukti series to remove stigma, improve awareness and promote self-care!
To check out more stories or if you're interested in donating to our mission, head to the link in our bio.
••••••
⚠️ Trigger Warning: Suicide
My story begins when I was 10 years old. This was the year I found a suicide note written by someone close to me. This person never ended up taking their life, but I spent the next 20 years thinking it might happen. I ended up burying this event in my mind and tried to go on normally.
After I left home and went to college, things got worse. My symptoms became physical ones: acid reflux, unexplained fainting, and panic attacks. Because of the severity of my panic attacks, I began taking medication. The medication helped significantly, but the underlying anxiety was still there lurking around.
I put on a brave face through all of this and resigned myself to suffering in silence. The panic attacks were mostly gone, but I still experienced a couple of fainting spells and unbearable acid reflux. I also fell in love during this time and thought I was going to marry this man. But we broke up, and I fell into a deep depression.
During this time, I went to an art therapy retreat held by Brave Girls Club. It was a transformative experience where I finally realized that I needed to shine a light on the dark, shadowy places in my mind. I needed to work through what happened when I was 10 years old.
Today, I’m mostly doing well with my mental illnesses. Do I have tough days? Of course. Do certain things still trigger my anxiety and depression? Yup. Do I still take medication? Yes. But the difference is that I know I’m going to be okay because I learned what to do to take care of myself. I know I’ll feel better soon. And that’s all I need to know.

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mi

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mission to encourage healthy, open dialogue of South Asian mental health, we would like to highlight our #HumansOfMannMukti series to remove stigma, improve awareness and promote self-care!
To check out more stories or if you're interested in donating to our mission, head to the link in our bio.
⚠️Trigger Warning: Death
My maternal grandmother was schizophrenic. She helped raised me and my siblings for more than two decades before she passed away in 2002.
At the time her illness first surfaced, she was a 45-year-old divorcée and single mother living in Mumbai with her brother and his family. The understanding of her disease and how to treat it were very poor at that time. Her daughter (my mom) would grow up to be a general practitioner. Eventually, she was tapped to lead geriatric psychiatry at a Veterans Affairs Hospital in Central Texas.
My mom’s training in mental health made a tremendous difference for my grandmother. The right combination of medication and therapy gave her a better quality of life.
Still, I spent years watching my grandmother talk to people who weren’t there and relive painful experiences over and over again in her head.
I had enormous sympathy for her and knew that she was just as deserving of love and respect as my other grandparents. In her most lucid moments, I think she knew what was happening to her. It must have been terrifying.
Thirteen years later, I had the privilege to serve as Chief of Staff to the United States Surgeon General, our nation’s doctor. As our team began to plot the public health campaigns on which we wanted to focus, we came to a consensus around mental health and the importance of emotional well-being.
We committed to addressing the stigma around mental illness, particularly in immigrant communities and in communities of color.
And my first and most important thought was: I’m going to do this for Ranjan Ba.

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mi

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mission to encourage healthy, open dialogue of South Asian mental health, we would like to highlight our #HumansOfMannMukti series to remove stigma, improve awareness and promote self-care!
To check out more stories or if you're interested in donating to our mission, head to the link in our bio.
⚠️Trigger Warning: SA
It all began when I was a child. I was molested when I was 8 years old by, who was once, my favorite uncle. This had shattered my world. I think what may have affected me the most was how the situation was handled after. Nobody really wanted to speak about it. Everyone dealt with the pain in silence. I felt alone. I had nobody to talk to, nobody to cry to, or at least that is how I felt at that time. I had become withdrawn. I felt dirty, insecure, and hated myself.
I was the queen of negative self-talk. I would cry often. I was miserable. I was extremely hard on myself.
All this self-hatred led me to make a decision that would change my life forever. I hated myself so much that I felt that my family and this world would be better off without me. I overdosed on medication and ended up in the hospital. I felt embarrassed. I couldn’t believe I had done what I did. I remember praying for nobody that I knew to find out because I did not want anyone to think I was crazy.
It took me a while to truly digest what had happened. What did it all mean? This girl, who felt insignificant and undeserving of life, was given a second chance. I was meant to be here. My presence on this earth has a purpose.
I have spent the last 15 years exploring what that purpose is. I believe sharing my story with others is one of them. I am no longer embarrassed! I am a warrior and this is my story. #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth
#southasianmentalhealth #southasia
#mentalhealthpositivity #mentalhealthmatters

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mi

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mission to encourage healthy, open dialogue of South Asian mental health, we would like to highlight our #HumansOfMannMukti series to remove stigma, improve awareness and promote self-care! To check out more stories or if you're interested in donating to our mission, head to the link in our bio.
🪁🪁🪁🪁🪁
In this bumpy and frenetic ride we call life, dance was usually my safety net. The days where either my stomach, heart, or soul felt empty, dance would be the remedy and make me feel full. I was on a collegiate-based dance team and the intensity of our routine and practices started to affect me physically. Once I realized how injured I was physically, the reality of my mental health caught up to me. I felt as if every aspect of my being was being threatened and questioned. I was plagued with these brooding and unnerving thoughts and I couldn’t seem to shake them off.
As I was starting to get back into the swing of my usual routine, dance started to feel more mundane and vanilla. I had a brief hiatus and used that time to reflect and reinvent myself. I finally became aware that dance was a facade to mask my darkness and that I needed help. It’s been a couple of years and I’m still not at my best but I’ve made strides and I commend myself for that. I’ve finally found the heart for dance that I left back. Alienating myself from my passion was only to combat the toxic and debilitating emotions. I’m a girl in progress and wish to keep fighting the good fight. There might be times where I feel black and white but dance will always be my color.

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mi

In honor of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth and our mission to encourage healthy, open dialogue of South Asian mental health, we would like to highlight our #HumansOfMannMukti series to remove stigma, improve awareness and promote self-care!
To check out more stories or if you're interested in donating to our mission, head to the link in our bio.
••••••
Since I was 7, attending medical school had been my dream – to finally say that yes, I’m going to be a doctor. Like anyone else pursuing a competitive career, I expected nothing but my best in everything I did. While this mentality is useful in the medical career, where we are taught to give only the best care to our patients, we’re never really taught how to take care of ourselves. Little did I know that my dream would nearly shatter me.
Enter medical school. I look at the coated people around me. “I can do this”, I thought. I was used to working hard and people coddling me, telling me I was going to be great. And then came the bad grades. And the isolation.
I felt worthless, stupid and definitely undeserving of the honor of learning medicine. And then the depression hit. But I didn’t know I was depressed. I was raised in a bubble, where I was shielded from anxiety and depression. It was always presented to me as an excuse for attention and laziness – it was taboo.
And yet, I stopped taking pleasure in the things that normally made me happy. I lost my appetite. I barely slept, spending most days staring blankly into a room of people better than me. But of course I plastered my struggle with a smile. There was no way in hell I was letting the world pity me. Soon enough, this monster consumed me to a point where I had to choose between being self-destructive and seeking help. And after days of tears and migraines, I chose the latter.
A year later, I’m still recovering. It’s unfortunate that depression and anxiety aren’t uncommon in medical school, but I’m attempting to destigmatize mental health along with my colleagues, while also taking better care of myself. It isn’t easy but if I can find something to appreciate about myself each day, I know I’m okay.

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