Deepika Padukone, who has been at the forefront of spreading mental health awareness through her NGO – The Live Love Laugh Foundation, recently flew down to New York for a fundraising dinner organised by the Youth Anxiety Center. The Chhapaak actor spoke on anxiety and depression at the event. Deepika took to Instagram to share some photos and a video from the fundraiser. In the clip, we see her saying, “300 million people in the world suffer with anxiety and depression. But I think the key to know is that depression and anxiety can creep up on absolutely anybody, from any profession, any gender, any part of the world. The toughest part for me was that I didn’t know what was happening.
The day I understood there was a name to it, it was called ‘clinical depression’ I already started feeling much better. If there is anything that I’ve learnt in the journey of recovery is that you need to be patient, and that there is hope. Superman once said, once you choose hope, anything is possible!” Deepika Padukone was snapped with Kendall Jenner at the event.The Youth Anxiety Center was founded in 2013 by New York–Presbyterian Hospital and is dedicated to the treatment of people, mainly youth, suffering from depression and anxiety through research and clinical programming. Deepika Padukone, who has been vocal about suffering from depression and managing to overcome it, founded her NGO in 2015 to fight for mental health issues. In 2016, the organization also launched a program called “You Are Not Alone”. Talking about her own experience, Deepika told Vogue, “That was the hardest part, to put on a front every single day like everything is okay in your life when actually that’s far from reality. You’re smiling and bringing joy into other people’s lives when you have none.”
