Payal Rohatgi: “The Psychiatrist Who Treated Me Also Treated Sushant For Bipolar”

“Was  Sushant Singh Rajput really suffering  from bi-polar disease?”  asks Payal Rohatgi who  went through her own  prolonged  phase  of  depression around 2011 and consulted the same  psychiatrist as  Sushant…only to realize  that  the  treatment was  not helping her.

“On the contrary , the  medication provided  by  the doctor(name  withheld) was messing up my head even more. I was in a phase where nothing  made sense.  I  was in Mumbai alone with no  family , just like Sushant. I can imagine the  thoughts that were going through his  head. This  industry can really  wreck your selfworth. I was  not getting anywhere in  life. Then there was  that whole phase when I  was friends with  Dibakar Bannerjee. I later realized  all men have their own hidden agenda while  befriending a woman,” says Payal

It  was Dibakar who  introduced  Payal to the doctor. “It was a doctor that Dibakar  was seeing  apparently  to resolve  marital issues. At least that’s what he  told me. He  recommended the doctor and I   visited him. I was told  I had bi-polar disorder.  But I wonder  if it was really that. Isn’t it  convenient to  label all depression as  bi-polar disorder? I realized this doctor is just star-struck. He  likes having celebrities as his patient to build his  equity.”

When Payal heard  about Sushant  seeing the same  doctor something triggered off  in her head. “I realized how close I was to suicide  when I   went to this  psychiatrist who I now feel to be  merely a quack. How can we be sure that the medication being given  to Sushant  was correct for him? And has the doctor maintained the doctor-patient decorum by preserving the confidentiality clause? Obviously not!  If he had, the world wouldn’t be talking about Sushant’s mental condition.I think there should be stricter laws regarding the sanctity of the  doctor-patient relationship.”

Payal says she  pulled  out of  her depression by quitting old habits. “I stopped taking the medication prescribed by this doctor.I quit drinking and  smoking. I  quit Mumbai. I went back home to my  mother in  Ahmedabad.  If I hadn’t done these things, I’d have  probably ended my life.”

She feels  for Sushant  and wonders who was with him at the end. “Was he  with a friend? Was he alone? I  didn’t know Sushant at all. But I’m shaken by his death because it  reminded me of  where I  was  so  many years. Sushant and I are connected by  our  mental condition and the doctor who claims  it was bi-polar disorder. But was it  even that? I  think the doctor’s  role in Sushant’s life should be  thoroughly  probed.”