EXCLUSIVE: Rohit Saraf on battling depression & turning to therapy: There were so many thoughts and I couldn’t make sense of them

Rohit Saraf is one of the most promising actors in Bollywood. He has been part of hit movies like Dear Zindagi, Hichki, Ludo and he has also played the titular role in the much-loved series Mismatched. While one would think that it was all so good for Rohit, but the actor had his own struggle going on, on the mental health front. Rohit was battling depression and was in need of help so he turned to therapy. In an exclusive interview with us, Rohit opened up about turning to therapy during his struggling with his thoughts and it was just before the Alia Bhatt starrer Dear Zindagi that he decided to get help. Rohit Saraf appreciated Deepika Padukone for being vocal about her mental health journey and also that more people are coming ahead and being open about it.

Rohit told us, “So the first time I ever took to therapy was in 2016, that is just before Dear Zindagi. At that time I was going through something and I did not manoeuvre through it, there were so many thoughts but I could not put them together or make sense of it. So I need someone to help me with that.” Talking about the first time he thought about going into therapy, Rohit said, that he has two of his really close friends in Bombay, Maxwell and Vidya, “They’re a beautiful couple, a very happy couple and they have been someone who has looked after me in Bombay while my family has not been around. So Vidya is a dance movement therapist and she has always emphasized on mental health for many years. She has actually studied it, so she was always very encouraging of it and I was always very sceptical and apprehensive if I should or shouldn’t. There was a lack of knowledge of mental health and therapy in general that it was even a thing. 2016 is when she told me to just go once and see how I feel, ‘You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.’ So that is when I spoke to my mom and she said I can talk to her as well, but I said no, ‘I want to try this,’ and my family has never been one to stop me from anything that I really want to. At that time I wanted to try it because I had heard stories of lives that people are living really well and happy. So I went and I tried it, got too overwhelmed because the first time your actually just telling your deepest darkest secrets to someone you have no idea about.”

The Ludo actor continued, “I do think that is easier when you speak to someone you don’t know about shit that is going down in your life. However, I got really overwhelmed so I did like maybe two sessions and I left it. I knew that it was the right thing to do, but I wasn’t sure if I can do it at the right time. So I didn’t go back. But in lockdown, I went back into it, to the same therapist who I met in 2016. I couldn’t be happier that I did because life is just so much simpler, easier and happier. I believe that 8 out of 10 issues can be sorted if you sit with a calm mind and think about it and that’s what happens in therapy. You need another perspective who understands human emotions. My therapist believes now that I don’t need more sessions for a while, so I have discontinued. But I am sure that some shit will go down and I will go back to it.”

Check out the full conversation below:

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