The most revolutionary thing about “Never Have I Ever” is Devi in therapy

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By Fareeha Molvi

(This piece was originally published on Instagram on August 11, 2020)

In the wake of #BreakThStigma4Nima and #BreakTheSilenceForSushant, there’s no doubt that discussions of mental health in the South Asian community need to happen. Like many communities of color, there’s shame, lack of understanding and stigma attached to discussing mental health issues.

That’s what makes Mindy Kaling’s “Never Have I Ever” so revolutionary. From the first episode, we watch Indian-American teen Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishan) visit with her Black therapist, Dr. Ryan (Niecy Nash) to work through the grief of losing her father. But plucky Devi doesn’t want to discuss her father, instead focusing on her pursuit of the hot guy in school.

 “[Depression] does not define the person. They are a person who suffers from depression. Just like if you break your leg, you aren’t a broken person. You are just a person with a broken leg”

Saleha Pirzada

As the season progresses, Dr. Ryan is there for her in a myriad of [hilarious] adolescent crises, without minimizing the big emotions she feels around everything. Overwhelmed by Devi’s acting-out, her frazzled mother Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan) ends up in Dr. Ryan’s office. Though she initially deems therapy “for white people,” her conversation there helps her realize how isolated she’s felt as a newly-single parent. “When you seek professional help, you are seeking guidance and gaining skills on how to improve your relationships and daily functioning,” says Pirzada.

In this way, Never Have I Ever seeks to normalize therapy for communities of color, portraying not just an individual but how a family can be involved in counseling, which Pirzada says is the ideal situation. 

Often people are afraid of being defined by it and consequently being labeled that way by the rest of the community. But emotional health needs to be just as prioritized as physical health within communities of color. “[Depression] does not define the person. They are a person who suffers from depression. Just like if you break your leg, you aren’t a broken person. You are just a person with a broken leg,” Pirzada says.