Meet Rohan Mehta

Rohan did not seek help until he was well into his 30s. He says it wasn’t so much the stigma of mental illness that inhibited him from seeking treatment growing up in India as much as it was indifference and shame. As long as you are strong and act like a man, everything will work out fine.

“After staying strong for 10+ years, one day my high tolerance threshold was surpassed.”

When he finally reached out to his family physician for help, there were no easy fixes. She soon came to the conclusion that his mental illness was too complex for her to successfully treat on her own and told him he needed better help at CAMH.

Even at CAMH there were no singular moments of triumph. It was hard, grinding work and progress was of the incremental variety. Part of Rohan’s care involved a 16-week intensive program of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) that in partnership with CAMH clinicians involved a lot of “homework” assignments designed to teach his brain new strategies to manage his mental illness on a daily basis.

“The therapists really made me feel valued as a person and the CBT helped change my thinking patterns,” says Rohan about his four years as a patient at CAMH. “It’s not magic. It takes time. I’m still in therapy. I need to practice the skills I have learned. For me, maintaining mental health stability is a lifelong journey. But my soul is happy.”