India, July 20 -- There is a quiet pandemic sweeping across the globe-not of a virus, but of the mind. Call it stress, anxiety, or depression-in essence, it is the simple yet dangerous act of turning our own intelligent mental faculties against ourselves. Uninvited yet ever-present, it has become a constant companion in our modern life. What should have been our greatest strength-our mind-has, in many cases, become our deepest source of suffering. The United Nations has even labelled stress as the 21st century epidemic, and for good reasons. What makes this crisis especially dangerous is that it wears no visible scars, knows no geographic boundaries, respects no age or class, and often goes untreated or even unnoticed.

Stress, at its cor...