The tragic deaths of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and designer Kate Spade left many dumbfounded and heartbroken. They also started a fresh conversation about the mental health illness that is depression. Alia Bhatt's sister Shaheen is the recent celeb to open about how the dark pits of depression affect a human being. 

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Alia shared the article written by her sister with the comment that reads, "Shaheen you are brilliant! My sister has battled and lived with depression since she was 12. She speaks her heart out and without any hesitation addresses the giant elephant in the room – Mental health and the LACK of our understanding & acceptance!"

Elder daughter of Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan, Shaheen opened up about her battle with depression in 2016 is a lengthy Instagram post. This time, she talked about the 'sheer terror of contemplating life.' In her article for Vogue India, she wrote, "I’ve lived with depression since I was 12 years old and since then I’ve been suicidal on more than one occasion. I’ve experienced the sheer terror of contemplating a life filled with unrelenting anguish, and I’ve been consumed by the terrifying thought of having but a single means of escape from a bleak, unbearable future."

She also commented on the effect of social media and the subsequent rise in the tendency to put 'filters' on personal life. She wrote, "A year and a half ago I chose to talk about my own experiences with depression on social media and even though I had never hidden that facet of my life, I was concerned about the judgement I would receive. Social media has given rise to a dangerous tendency to airbrush and filter our personal lives. There is so much value placed on false ideas of positivity and emotional prosperity that we present our lives as immaculate highlight reels entirely devoid of substance, and altogether devoid of the aches and pains of what it means to be human."

Encouraging people to open up about depression, she concluded, “Every minute that we continue to stay silent we lose one more person to the horrors of depression and suicide. Every second that we choose comfort over reality we fail another Anthony and another Kate. Talking about depression is no longer an option, it’s a matter of life and death.”