Netflix’s latest docuseries House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths tells a discomforting tale of the demise of three generations and 11 members of the Delhi-based Bhatia family. In addition to its whodunit narrative style, what has captured the attention of audiences in India was the fact that a relatively normal-seeming, educated and high-functioning family could fall prey to undiagnosed mental illness and dangerous superstitions, with such dangerous outcomes. “In our society, while mental illness has become a talking point of late, when confronted with it, most people respond with denial. There’s always a sense of ‘this can’t be happening to me’. This is because mental illness is associated with a lack of strength. And unlike physical illnesses, where symptoms such as pain are legitimised as requiring 
medical attention, mental symptoms such as over-thinking or depression, inflexibility or irrational fears are often considered personality traits that the rest of the family must learn to live around. There’s a marked resistance to accepting that these are symptoms of mental illness and the idea that the illness can be treated,” explains Dr Nahid Dave, a psychiatrist at Thought Matters.

A still from the Netflix docuseries. Pic/Instagram