Q: I am a 20 years old girl suffering from depression and anxiety. I am really worried about my personal and professional life because my parents are not supportive and are least bothered for me. They do not understand me at all. They ignore all my problems. They have never been of any help to me right from my childhood days. All this has brought depression and frustration in my life. How do I help myself?

A:It seems like you are concerned about your future and feel that your parents are not supporting like any other Indian parents. As a result you feel stressed out and possibly somewhat anxious and depressed. One way to help yourself would be to perceive that this is your problem (actually it is) and not your parents and express your concerns to them or any other family members stating why you are stressed out and asking them in clear words (keeping in mind that you are asking for help that they may or may not want to do, so you need to request) - possibly putting things as clearly as possible to them in words. By this I mean specifically stating what you are concerned/worried about. The best and healthy way to deal with any stress is trying to clarify to yourself as to what is making you stressed and to come up with a way to solve those issues/problems while keeping in mind that while you are trying to solve your problems just ruminating about them does not help much.