Comedian and content creator Samay Raina officially re-entered YouTube on April 7, 2026, with his long-awaited stand-up special "Still Alive"—an unpolished and very personal story of the mental and emotional breakdown that he suffered after India's Got Latent scandal of early 2025. Among the laughter, tears, and typical wit, there was a single confession that, at one point in the most dismal period of the crisis, Samay took half a bottle of melatonin, about 36 pills, simply to fall asleep.
He also reported that he had a dreadful anxiety attack prior to performances, and he was having what he referred to as "Psychosis", a terrifying loss of touch with reality in which he would feel objects in his surroundings to ensure their reality. It was a dream; it was not real, I tell you. I swear to God, I felt it was a dream on stage.
Despite the comedic presentation of some of his statements, the health consequences are serious. Let us unframe what actually went on in Samay's mind and body and what it implies for the millions of us facing severe stress.
Samay Raina — Still Alive (2026)
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About Me – Dr. Rajnandini Dubey
Hello, I’m Dr. Rajnandini Dubey, a Physiotherapist with a Master’s degree in Sports Physiotherapy and currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiotherapy. Along with my academic career, I have been working as a professional academic and medical writer for the past 3–4 years, contributing to research papers, postgraduate thesis, PhD dissertations, and healthcare websites.
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Translation: "I never thought my mental health would fall so low that I'd need sleeping pills. I consumed half a bottle of them."
The pineal gland is a part of the brain that produces melatonin, a hormone. It controls your circadian rhythm, an internal clock that tells you when to sleep and when to wake. With the onset of darkness, melatonin levels increase, signalling the body to relax. When daylight comes back, they fall.
Due to its over-the-counter sales and positioning as a "natural" sleep aid, most people believe that melatonin is safe at any dosage. Samay vividly demonstrates this myth in his story. Melatonin is a hormone, not a vitamin; dosage is crucial.
When an individual experiences severe psychological stress, which Samay obviously did, when confronted with FIRs, hate in the streets, death threats, the risk of losing ₹8 crore in savings, and the feeling of being completely isolated, the levels of cortisol (stress hormone) in the body skyrocket. This burst of cortisol is actively inhibitory to the production of melatonin, and it is practically impossible to fall asleep on your own. This phenomenon is the reason why individuals in crisis turn to sleep aids as a desperate measure.
At some point during his US tour (probably in Seattle), Samay explained that he shivered backstage, his heart racing, sweat streaming through his clothes, and he was breathless. His therapist advised him not to go on stage. He went anyway.
He had a textbook panic (anxiety) attack, a most physically intense experience that a person can have, and which is often confused with a heart attack (felt by its first-time sufferer).
Samay's situation is especially high-risk, as he chose to play during the attack. This requires tremendous bravery, but it may also strengthen the threat reaction of the brain, conditioning the body that such circumstances are, in fact, dangerous, and thus making the anxiety response even more anxiety-inducing in the long run. This is why professional guidance is important.
The most dramatic and, perhaps, most medically significant thing Samay said was that he touched things around him to see whether they were real. It is psychosis, he said on stage, and he was rightly terrified that he was diagnosing himself. In clinical terms, the condition is a derealization or depersonalization state on the spectrum of psychosis, which is much more prevalent under significant stress than most people imagine.
Samay Raina—at the moment of psychosis
"I'm touching things around me to see if they're real. It's the worst state to be in. It's called psychosis. Some people are unable to get out of this state. I got so scared."
True psychosis is the loss of reality, including hallucinations or delusions, and usually needs treatment in a clinical setting. What Samay was probably experiencing was the derealization caused by stress, a dissociative state brought about by acute, overwhelming anxiety wherein the world suddenly becomes alien, dreamy, or artificial.
Sleep Deprivation and Mental Collapse.
Sleep deprivation is one of the threads that links all three attempts at the melatonin overdose, the anxiety attacks, and the derealization. In the case of chronic sleep deprivation, the amygdala (the center of fear and emotions) in our brain becomes up to 60% more sensitive to negative stimuli. The prefrontal cortex, which controls rational thought and emotional control, becomes increasingly ineffective at reducing amygdala activity.
In short, less sleep means more anxiety, less clear thinking, and a higher risk of dissociation or psychosis. It is a self-perpetuating, vicious circle, and this is precisely what Samay was up in.
Important: Melatonin is a hormone, not a sedative. Taking large doses will not simply "force" sleep; it will dysregulate your hormonal system and can worsen long-term sleep quality. If you are struggling with stress-related insomnia, please consult a licensed physician or psychiatrist. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is currently the most evidence-based, long-term treatment for stress-induced sleeplessness.
The story of Samay is another compelling case study of how shaming by the masses, mass online bullying, and all-at-once social isolation can have clinical-level effects on mental health. He said that he received death threats with photos of his parents attached, lost friends in the industry overnight, and was simultaneously being turned on by the media, all at the same time, as he was supposed to go out on stage and sing before tens of thousands of people.
Psychosocial stress research always indicates that the most harmful aspect of stress is that the stressor itself cannot be controlled—the belief that nothing you do will improve the situation. It is not the severity but its helplessness. The fact that Samay admits no one would pick up his call, that everyone turned their backs on me, and that no one is giving me their contact information, is precisely this dynamic.
Samay was lucky to have a therapist whom he could reach out to during a crisis. That resource is not easily accessible to the majority of people or is not considered necessary until very late. It suggests the following evidence:
Samay Raina is not an exception. He is merely someone with a large platform of his own, and his breakdown came into the spotlight. Millions of young professionals, content creators, students, and parents across India and the world are silently experiencing a combination of unrelaxed stress, broken sleep, stress attacks, and a temporary sense of unreality.
There is also a gross underinvestment in the mental health system in India: there are fewer than 0.3 psychiatrists per 100,000 population, which is compared to a recommendation of at least 3 proposed by the WHO. The cultural stigma that surrounds the admission of psychological distress is daunting. And yet, a discussion such as the one Samay Raina began on a YouTube stage before millions of imperfect people could be normalized as a way to seek help more powerfully than any health promotion campaign.
The most valuable health message of Still Alive is that, although Samay did not collapse, he survived, named it, and discussed it. It is nearly always the first step toward mentally coming out of the crisis.
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— Dr. Rajnandini Dubey
MPT (Sports Physiotherapy)
Assistant Professor | Physiotherapist | Academic & Medical Writer
