{"id":21614,"date":"2024-02-02T00:11:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T18:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/?p=21614"},"modified":"2025-10-06T16:59:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T11:29:25","slug":"battling-shadows-pranavs-yd-warrior-story-of-overcoming-mental-health-struggles-with-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/battling-shadows-pranavs-yd-warrior-story-of-overcoming-mental-health-struggles-with-therapy.html","title":{"rendered":"Battling Shadows: Pranav’s Story of Overcoming Mental Health Struggles With Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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T.W. Self-harm<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pranav who hails from Chandigarh, the city beautiful. He is in his early twenties pursuing a B.Com (Hons) from Sree Ram College of Commerce Delhi.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond his work life, Pranav finds solace in the realms of literature, with a profound love for reading and a keen interest in poetry. Occasionally, he also dons the hat of a wordsmith, expressing his thoughts through the art of writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pranav lost his mother when he was nine years old. He was suffering from the loss of his mother and mourning while a new hitch had arisen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Missing out on a parent is something that was very difficult and I probably didn’t realise now I do.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Unaware that he was dealing with undiagnosed mental health issues, Pranav turned to unhealthy coping mechanisms like self-harming and overdosing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I desperately wanted to let out the darkness within. In hindsight, I understand how self-destructive it was but back then, it felt like my only escape.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turning point came when he was 18 and realised he needed help. Pranav took the difficult but brave step of seeing a therapist. He shares, “Just vocalising my struggles to someone impartial felt cathartic.”<\/em> He was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though therapy provided temporary relief, the sessions were limited due to financial constraints. The struggles continued to intensify, with self-harming and suicidal thoughts becoming Pranav’s go-to coping strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Every day felt like a battle I was losing. The pain was becoming unbearable.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the throes of one such unbearable emotional episode, Pranav came across YourDOST, an online counseling platform offering affordable services. Sceptical but desperate, he booked his first session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pranav realised how his college had partnered with YourDOST to provide mental and emotional wellness solutions to all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pranav took the first step towards betterment and connected with Ms Jaya to understand and come out of his misery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was very guarded and just wanted someone to vent to. Ms Jaya was very patient not pushing me to open up before I was ready.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next few months, Pranav slowly started expressing himself in the non-judgemental space. He realised how much he had been bottling up his emotions and it needed to be addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Jaya introduced Pranav to techniques like the grounding method for anxiety and recommended alternatives to self-harm like holding an ice cube. He found the text-based chatting on the platform helpful in organising his thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Our sessions became like a lifeline. Ms Jaya taught me how to be kinder to myself.” <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

After Ms Jaya left the platform, He had to connect with a different counselor and came across Mr Raj.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I had become dependent on our sessions and the thought of starting afresh with someone new was exhausting.”<\/em> However, he knew he owed it to himself to continue the healing process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“It took a few sessions to open up again but Raj was very understanding. The techniques started showing results. Pranav shares, “Meditation helped calm my anxious mind. Maintaining a mood journal made me more self-aware.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For the first time, he had someone he could confide his darkest thoughts without fear of being judged. Pranav reflects, “Raj taught me to separate my struggles from my self-worth. It was more than just my diagnosis.”<\/em> Though progress was gradual, the small wins motivated Pranav.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today, Pranav proudly shares that he has been self-harm-free for over a year and counting. He rates his improvement at 4 out of 5 in terms of getting better post-therapy sessions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I still have bad days but they don’t control me anymore. Counseling taught me healthy coping strategies.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Pranav also learned to be more forgiving towards himself. He says, “I’m still a work in progress but the journey of self-love has begun.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

Pranav’s Warrior Tips:<\/strong>
1. \u201cDon\u2019t wait for long, you deserve the support you need and are never alone. With courage and compassion, you will make it through the dark tunnel into light.\u201d<\/strong>
2.\u201cIndulge yourself in different activities to keep away disturbing thoughts and eventually talk about it with people around you don\u2019t let it bottle your emotions.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T.W. Self-harm Pranav who hails from Chandigarh, the city beautiful. He is in his early twenties pursuing a B.Com (Hons) from Sree Ram College of Commerce Delhi.   Beyond his work life, Pranav finds solace in the realms of literature, with a profound love for reading and a keen interest in poetry. Occasionally, he also dons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,70],"tags":[170],"class_list":["post-21614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-trauma-and-ptsd","tag-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36773,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21614\/revisions\/36773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}