JOIN USAs a Class 8 student, Renuka (name changed) was academically-oriented. But she found it harder to cope with her studies, lost confidence, had sleepless nights and felt sad the whole day.
In Class 10, she had issues with her family and was left with a few friends. A psychiatrist diagnosed her with depression and prescribed medication. That did not work and so she took treatment at Nimhans and has recovered.
“There were days when I would find it difficult to even get out of the bed and brush my teeth,” said Renuka, a Chennai girl now working for an MNC. “I dropped out of engineering college due to an emotional breakdown. I thought I can’t cope.”
Renuka said she was able to manage without medication now. “I went back to my college. That was the same place where I broke down (emotionally). I wanted to move ahead from the place where people had seen me vulnerable.” Having a mental illness is possible like how one has physical ailments, Renuka reasoned.