Published By: Shrishti Negi
Last Updated: July 12, 2023, 11:07 IST
Ira Khan started Agastu, a mental health awareness foundation, in 2021. (Credits: Instagram)
Ira Khan says that growing up in a family that is constantly in the limelight affected her mental health. While it was helpful at times, in some ways, she was at a disadvantage.
Aamir Khan’s daughter, Ira Khan, has fought with mental health issues for some time, and after her battle, she took the initiative to create awareness and help people come out stronger. Ira is the daughter of Aamir and his ex-wife Reena Dutta. Being a star kid, she has always been in the limelight, and according to her, this severely impacted her life and made the issue worse.
In an interview with the Hindustan Times, Ira said, “Depression doesn’t have one cause. What you are brought up around will shape your personality. It would be silly to say that growing up in the family I grew up in, did not affect my state of mind. Every single thing that happened in my life, did. So yes, 100 percent being a part of the family I have has affected my mental health. In some ways, it has helped, and in some ways been unhelpful.”
Ira also opened up about a phase when she was diagnosed with clinical depression. She said that while she had the financial resources for effective treatment and people who cared about her, the “depression and fear crippled” her. This led to her forming the foundation Agastu in 2021 to help others who face a similar kind of fear. But, Ira mentioned that they “absolutely nothing for a year and a half.” This was because Ira had a depressive episode in July 2022.
She revealed, “Cyclical means every few months, there is a big dip for me. Usually, the dip lasts two weeks for me, then I do something which help me does something and so on. I get back to regular stuff. This one lasted for months. I go around championing everyone’s mental health, but have severe amount of stigma with my own. I was upset with myself. It took me long to get out of this one, and I finally joined Agastu in December.”
Ira launched the foundation with an announcement on her Instagram handle.
Ira Khan also points out how families are not really aware of how to help a person going through a depressive episode. Ira stated, “Even though my family has been very supportive, they didn’t necessarily know how to support me. I needed to articulate it for them. It took efforts from my end their end, to develop communication.” She added that families have their own struggles to deal with and often doubt if they are of any help to the person. Lastly, Ira mentioned that her fiance, Nupur Shikhare was a very strong support system for her and her go-to person.
