Veena Dinavahi > Quotes

“Who gets to decide what is normal? With respect to the mental health system, every diagnosis of mental illness assumes a certain baseline of normalcy. With borderline personality disorder, one of the symptoms is excessive risk-taking, in areas such as spending habits and sexual behavior. Excessive to whom? Based on whose value system? Whose environment? A social risk for a young white man from the affluent suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, might present very differently than a social risk for a Black woman raised in inner-city Baltimore. More important, our perceptions of acceptable risk from these two circumstances vary greatly based on our own upbringing and biases.”
― Veena Dinavahi, The True Happiness Company: A Memoir

“People assume that when you attempt suicide, in that moment, you have reached rock bottom. This is not the case. Attempting is an act of hope—that the pain will end.”
― Veena Dinavahi, The True Happiness Company: A Memoir

“Maybe falling out of love was normal for other people”
― Veena Dinavahi, The True Happiness Company: A Memoir