We live in a society that is based on fear of rejection, judgment: Jhanvi Sethi

Jhanvi Sethi started her NGO My Zindagi Foundation in 2018, along with her husband and actor Vikas Sethi and psychologist Dixita Mehta. She feels that a person who is suffering from depression or any other mental illness trusts a counselor more because of the fear of being judged by their society.

“We live in a society that is based on fear of rejection, judgment, conditioning, and upbringing. Our trusted family and friends also come with their own baggage. That’s where the trust in counselors comes from,” she said.

She further said that the past two years had been a “tremendous journey full of rich experiences” and added, “I myself have tremendously transformed along the way.”

She feels that a good counselor should be balanced, should be an active listener, should have the ability to maneuver and should respect those coming to them. And what made her choose a career in Psychology? “My choice of career comes from my life experiences and from my empathetic nature. Also, this strong desire to help those in need,” she said.

Jhanvi even spoke about two stories from her experience. Recalling one of them, she said, “This case had shaken me to the core. It was a famous actress who was a victim of depression and had acquired some habits which were causing self-sabotage and damage. We worked with her on medication and supported her through counseling.”

Sharing the second story, she said, “Another interesting case was of a high performing employee from the corporate sector. She was highly passionate and focused on driving results. She went through a divorce six years ago but kept running the rat race without processing the pain of her divorce. The COVID scenario clubbed with being alone, and this led her to finally considering counseling. She got diagnosed with highly functional anxiety and depression. She is currently undergoing medications and learning to take it slow.”