The Voice Unheard

It was the night of the Youth Achievers Awards ceremony. Dr. Sitara Devi walked up to the stage when her name was called. She was a renowned psychologist and researcher. She also ran an NGO that supported the cause of prevention of child abuse and rehabilitation of children.

After her felicitation, the emcee said “Doctor, we are honoured to have you here. May we request you to speak a few words, on what motivated you to select this area, pertaining to child care, to work on?

Sitara Devi smiled and said, “As I was a survivor of child abuse, I found it most relevant, to work on this area and help children in need.”

There was a stunned silence in the auditorium and the emcee was at a temporary loss for words.

Sitara smiled and continued “I would like to share my story today so that it can promote more awareness w.r.t this subject.

I was born in an upper-middle-class family. My parents were college professors. I was their only daughter. My life was as normal as that of any child, till I reached the age of 10 years. Slowly, I started having inexplicable episodes of extreme happiness and depression. I had problems concentrating in class and would often experience auditory hallucinations. I started having unusual shifts in my mood, energy, activity levels, and concentration. I could not engage properly with other children at school and my overall performance started suffering. I often experienced problems falling asleep and had inexplicable weight gain.

Alarmed, my parents took me to various medical practitioners and finally a diagnosis emerged that I was suffering from bipolar disorder.

This left my parents heartbroken. Though the doctor prescribed medication and offered suggestions, still they were worried about the social stigma that could be attached to my condition. In those days, there was not much social awareness associated with such conditions. So, though they loved me a lot, out of concern for my future and fear of societal gossip, they decided to pull me out of school and get me home-schooled. They felt that it was better if I remain at home for most of the time.

A family friend who was an educator, volunteered his services to help me with my education at home. Both my parents were out for most of the time during the day, owing to the nature of their job. Most of the time, the only company that I had was my house help Sharada, who loved me and would give me company during the morning time that she spent at our house.

The said family friend started coming to our house regularly for my tutoring. But sadly, instead of being my teacher and guide, he turned out to be a sexual predator. He slowly started molesting me and would threaten me if I resisted. He invariably would point out that I was “mentally ill” [according to his twisted logic], and that nobody, including my parents, would believe me, even if I did tell them about it.

Terrified, I slowly started believing him and retreated into a shell, silently suffering his actions. I could not bring myself to talk about it, to anyone. It started taking a toll on my health, which was already deteriorating. My episodes of depression started increasing. My parents were at their wit's end, as they could not understand why the medication was not helping.

One day my house-help Sharada came back to our house at noon time, as she had forgotten something. She noticed the tutor trying to abuse me and raised an alarm and saved me. She also informed my parents about it. My parents were shocked and stunned. I still remember my mother holding me and continually weeping about it. On confrontation, the tutor confessed and begged for forgiveness. Unfortunately, my parents had to drop the issue, as the tutor was also a family man who had small children. They did not have the heart to hurt his family. He fled from our lives and I never saw him thereafter.

After this, my parents started playing a very active role in my healing. With their love and support, I slowly started healing from my memories of abuse. They reached out to various support groups and started focused treatment for my bipolar condition. They reached out to medical experts who put me on the right combination of medications, psychotherapy, and cognitive behavioural therapy. This is not a condition that can be cured immediately, but with the right treatment combination, slowly the frequency of the episodes started decreasing. I was also put under the right daily routine and regime in terms of sleep, diet, and exercise to help regain my health and positivity parallelly.

By God’s grace, slowly, I started inching towards a normal life, lovingly supported by my parents. I still had to continue my medicines as it is a lifelong condition, and treatment is directed at managing symptoms.

I resumed my education. I completed my BA and opted for Psychology. I also started my practice in this area. Even now, I still have some stray episodes of depression, but owing to self-awareness of my condition, I am able to manage my symptoms accordingly.

Along with active practice in this field, coupled with my research works, I also started a non-profit initiative, in collaboration with a foreign organization that actively works and provides support groups in this regard. Our NGO covers a vast network of schools as a tie-up. Our volunteers provide sessions on sex education, awareness, and mental well-being to the children. We encourage them to speak up in such sessions and also educate them about good touch and bad touch etc. In my NGO, we have a team of different psychologists who collaborate across the country. We focus on all aspects of mental and emotional well-being in children, including behavioral/ educational psychology, etc.

We encourage everyone here to spread the word on child well-being, as it has a significant effect on their psyche once they grow up. Any interested volunteers are most welcome to join our initiative.

Let us help the unheard voices to find a platform… to be heard and to be healed.

Thank you everyone once again for this opportunity.” Saying this, Dr. Sitara Devi ended her speech with moist eyes and a happy and hopeful heart, and the audience broke into thunderous applause.