‘Psychiatrist told me I had manic depression’, Mahira opens up about mental health

Superstar Mahira Khan was a guest on Frieha Altaf’s podcast where she opened up about learning to face her mental health struggles, especially after stepping into Bollywood with the Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Raees’, and the 2017 incident where pictures of her smoking with Ranbir Kapoor emerged online. She also talked about the 2016 Uri attack, after which Pakistani actors were banned from working in Bollywood.

Reflecting on that time, the actress revealed she dealt with immense backlash, calling it “unexpected”.

Mahira said she was getting scary calls, hateful messages to the point that she couldn’t travel to India to promote ‘Raees’, which was heartbreaking and it began creating anxiety and depression. The ‘Hum Kahan Kay Sachay Thay’ actress revealed she was constantly seeing her image on television screens, and getting hateful messages telling her to leave India, and it escalated to the point that her faith broke.

“I developed severe anxiety to the point that one day I had a panic attack and fainted’ recalled Mahira. “That’s the first time I went for therapy.”

“But that didn’t work out, as I went to several therapists. But either I was not opening up, or the therapist sitting across me would be looking at me with awe thinking ‘what would she have to complain about’?”

Raees released in 2017, the same year Mahira’s Pakistani film ‘Verna’ released across Pakistan, and at the same time, the picture scandal happened.

“I couldn’t sleep, my hands would shake,” the ‘Bin Roye’ actress confessed.

Mahira said she eventually visited a psychiatric hospital, where she was informed that she had manic depression. The actress said for the past six or seven years she has been on anti-depressants. She once tried quitting the meds in the middle which put her in a dark hole.

“I did understand that there is something beyond me. Beyond the prayers i will do, beyond the friends that will cheer me up, beyond work and success. There is something not right, and it’s okay.”

The ‘Superstar’ actress said that by talking about her mental health struggles and breaking the stigma surrounding the topic, she hoped more people would learn to approach others for help rather than treat it with shame.

“I talk it every chance I get. This is the first time I’m opening up about the fact that I’ve been taking medicine for so many years. And when I tried leaving it like I said it was bad… And I was again in and out of hospitals trying to get help. But yes, everybody has ups and downs, bad times and happy times, but clinical depression is real like any other mental illness or physical illness.”