Somy Ali on JEE Aspirant’s Suicide: “We Need to Talk About Mental Health”

The tragic suicide of an 18-year-old JEE aspirant has shocked the nation. The young girl left a heartbreaking suicide note to her parents, calling herself a “loser”. Somy Ali, an actress and an activist who runs a US-based NGO No More Tears for victims of domestic abuse and rape, says that the girl’s psychological pain was inflicted by society’s pressure and expectations.

Somy Ali expresses her sympathy to the parents of the girl and says that losing a child is unbearable. She also shares her insight based on her education and experience of working with victims who have attempted suicide. She says, “I have read this child’s suicide note over and over again and it’s beyond evident that the words she has used for herself are not words she was born with assuming to be worthless and a loser. These words were instilled in her by either her parents with immense pressure to succeed or by her peers and surroundings. Taking one’s own life is because their psychological or physical pain is so intolerable that they choose to die.”

Somy Ali says that it is crucial to spread awareness about mental health issues and prevent such tragedies from happening. She urges people with influence to talk about mental health on their social media and help those who are suffering. She says, “Life has to feel so astronomically awful in one’s psyche that their only path is to end it to gain solace. Again, I would like to make a plea to people with clout to please talk about mental health on their social media because this girl could have been saved had she reached out for help. The way our NGO can save many victims before they resort to taking their own lives.”

Somy Ali praises Deepika Padukone for being the only one from the Hindi cinema who has openly talked about her depression and how it has helped millions of people who follow her. She says, “That shows her valour and how much she cares to save others. To tell people that one is suffering from depression is frowned upon which I find despicable by our society in 2024. This is why I cannot say enough about what Deepika has done for millions who follow her and may have changed their minds about killing themselves and sought help instead.”

She also criticizes society and the social media culture for creating unrealistic expectations and comparisons among the youth. She says, “If famous people keep displaying a life that consists of only happiness suicide rates will go up more than they already are and we will keep losing our youth. No one is perpetually happy and everyone has ups and downs whether you are a celebrity or a layperson. By depicting otherwise, one is fabricating castles in the air which are killing our youth.”

She adds, “I blame our society and more so in the social media era where all the youth are envious of how marvellous and painless everyone’s life is simply by looking at a picture. Nowadays, a picture says a thousand words with a facade of lies. Once again, we as a whole sweep mental health issues under the rug and anything that is the least bit uncomfortable to talk about. That’s the biggest elephant in every room universally. People can and have been barbaric towards one another since the big bang and even in this modern era if you read the comments on anyone’s post your jaw will drop with the immense hateful words towards someone one does not even know.”