Why Mental Health Is Still a Taboo in Indian Families — And How We Break It
Imagine coming home after a terrible day — not because of anything external, but because your mind feels heavy. You sit at the dinner table, family around you, and someone asks, "Are you okay?" You want to say no. You want to say your anxiety has been crushing you. Instead, you smile and say, "I'm just tired." That silence — that automatic "I'm fine" — is the taboo. And in millions of Indian homes, it plays out every single day. What Does 'Taboo' Really Mean Here? A taboo isn't always a rule written down somewhere. In the context of Indian families, the mental health taboo is a collection of unspoken norms — things you just don't talk about. It lives in the embarrassed silence when someone cries "for no reason." It lives in the phrase "log kya kahenge" (what will people say?). It lives in the dismissal of panic attacks as "drama" and depression as "laziness." These aren't signs of...