Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s daughter Aaliya Kashyap opened up about her mental health issues and said that she had a very hard time since she tested positive for covid-19. Her mental health deteriorated due to which she even had to visit a psychiatrist. The reason Aaliyah decided to come out with her story was to assure anyone else going through something similar that they are ‘not alone’.
Aaliya Kashyap is currently studying in the United States and had tested positive for covid-19 last November. Recently, she took to her YouTube channel and talked about battling serious mental health problems.
Aaliya said that she had always dealt with anxiety and depression since she was a teenager, but she would easily snap out of it. However, after contracting the virus she was in quarantine and her mental health ‘really deteriorated’. She said, “It was really hard for me after November. I was just super low, constantly crying, feeling like there was no purpose to my life, like I didn’t want to exist or do anything. I thought I was a burden on everyone else and all of these negative interrupting thoughts in my head that obviously aren’t true. But that is what it felt like.”
While talking about her serious condition in December last year, she said, “I just completely broke down and I was in the hospital for severe panic attacks… Which is why my parents flew down here because they were worried about me.”
Till early January her parents stayed with her in the US and she felt good again. Aaliya further revealed that towards the end of March, things went downhill again. She said, “I just didn’t get out of bed, I didn’t shower, barely ate.”
Aaliya also recalled a time when she went to hospital as she had a severe panic attack. on 10th April, she suddenly felt very dizzy and her body became numb. Her heart started beating really fast and she started sweating. Remembering that attack, she said, “My body started violently trembling. Literally, I was like, ‘I am dying’. It felt like this was it for me and I was going to die. Mind you, I have had panic attacks before but nothing like this, ever. So I didn’t know what I was having was a panic attack and not a heart attack or stroke. I felt so much anxiety, for no reason. Like, nothing triggered it.”
After visiting a psychiatrist, she was diagnosed with panic disorder, which is characterised by sudden recurring panic attacks. She underscored that she is feeling better after taking medication for it.
Aaliya urged everyone who is going through the same, to get professional help, as it really makes a difference.
