"I'm silent but the screaming won't stop, I'm calm but the restlessness goes on, I'm smiling but my frown won't fade, I'm laughing but the tears don't die away, I'm living but that won't stop death from coming my way" - a young Shaheen Bhatt wrote in her journal at a tender age of 15.

Depression has surged to epidemic proportions in today's overwhelming times. In a country like India, opening up about mental illness is not considered worthy of attention and is still sometimes interpreted as a sign of weakness. However, there are a lot of people who've been living with clinical depression and want to share their story in order to encourage others to not treat depression as a character flaw.