Prabh Dhillon's Story:

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Mental health is different because you can’t see it. You can’t see it the same way you can see a cut on a person’s arm. And because you can’t see it, you can’t visualize the pain — and that’s what makes it hard for us to understand. When you see someone bleeding, you can immediately determine how much they must be hurting. You can relate to it, you can understand it, you’ve been through it. That’s what’s different about mental health; the ones who have been through it are the ones who understand it the best. As a man, it’s different. I grew up with male figures who didn’t show the slightest sign of breaking down. Tough it out. Always have a strong mind. That’s the way I learned to deal with any issues I faced. I never saw the men in my life talk about their emotions or feelings and I guess I learned to do the same. That's the way it is in this society and that's the way it is in the Punjabi community as well. I think that’s why men have some of the highest suicide rates and I think that's why our men resort to drinking, sometimes even excessively. Because you can only tough it out for so long. I started a humanitarian organization called Students for Humanity to tackle social and health issues like this. There’s a need for us to create an understanding of issues like this and be able to address them. It takes time but we need to have a sense of urgency. Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean that it’s not there. I would definitely like to see more men speak up about this, especially in the Punjabi community.