Name: There's no shame in taking care of your mental health
Uploaded: 2017-05-04T14:57:04Z
Duration: 8 min 56 s
Description: When stress got to be too much for TED Fellow Sangu Delle, he had to confront his own deep prejudice: that men shouldn't take care of their mental health. In a personal talk, Delle shares how he learned to handle anxiety in a society that's uncomfortable with emotions. As he says: "Being honest about how we feel doesn't make us weak -- it makes us human."

Sangu Delle: There's no shame in taking care of your mental health

There's no shame in taking care of your mental health

When stress got to be too much for TED Fellow Sangu Delle, he had to confront his own deep prejudice: that men shouldn't take care of their mental health. In a personal talk, Delle shares how he learned to handle anxiety in a society that's uncomfortable with emotions. As he says: "Being honest about how we feel doesn't make us weak -- it makes us human."

Mental health struggles are often silenced by stigma, especially in African communities where emotional vulnerability is seen as weakness. After losing seven loved ones in a single month, the pain was compounded not only by grief but by the pressure to remain stoic. Most African governments invest less than one percent of their health budget in mental health, and 90 percent of people across Africa lack access to treatment. A cultural shift is needed to treat mental well-being as essential, not shameful.