the thread: Why doesn't India talk about mental health? > Likes and Comments

I'm Ankit Bond, author of UNSPOKEN:
Mental Health in the Indian Mind.

This book took months to research —
drawing on NIMHANS national survey data,
WHO reports, and Indian psychiatric
research going back two decades.

One finding stopped me completely:

India once had a precise word for
depression — "Vishada" — in Ayurvedic
texts 2,000 years old. Charaka even
noted it worsens every other illness.

Somewhere between colonial medicine
and modern India, we lost that word.

And "tension hai" took its place.

I'd love to discuss:

→ Why do you think Indian families
find it hard to talk about
mental health?

→ Has language played a role in
your own experience?

The book is available on Amazon India:

Looking forward to the conversation.