The twelfth episode of Turiya Talks, Season 6 had Dr. Nidhi Thanawala, a therapist and psychology professor and Mehezabin Dordi, a clinical psychologist at Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital .They discussed about the importance of toxic positivity with our host Sandhya Sutodia, the co-founder of Turiya Communications. The session was held on 17th December 2020.

“We refuse to see negativity, when it is an elephant in the room”-This is how Dr Mehezabin Dordi summarized the topic of the day, toxic positivity. She has put forward the fact that in today’s society many people excessively focus on being positive all the time thus suppressing the non-desirable emotions that one faces. She emphasized by saying that this toxic positivity comes from our loved ones only because many of them do not know how to respond to it.

On the other side Dr Nidhi Thanawala, has emphasized more on the fact that how toxic positivity is the reason why many people do not express themselves. Due to response like “be positive” people are stuck in a cycle of minimization, invalidation and denial of one’s own emotions.

Both the guests concluded by giving some tips on how to be free from toxic positivity. They said one needs to express these very emotions whether good or bad and the person who is listening to one’s problem should not shame or minimize the person’s problem. They also put forward that the coping mechanism for all is not the same for all and that’s totally fine.