Okay, quick question, if you are suffering from a serious fracture what do you do? Do you just sit there waiting for it to heal or do you immediately go to the doctor? Obviously the latter right? If we treat our physical health with such importance why not our mental health?
As much as it’s important to take care of your physical body so is our mental health equally important but not everyone realizes that significance.
Why is it that most of us are quiet when it comes to mental health?
Why is Mental illness still frowned upon when every 1 in 4 adults suffers from some sort of mental illness?
While some of us have opened up to this aspect there are many who don’t consider it’s importance or as something which has to be “treated”.
Decades earlier anyone who suffered from any sort of mental illness whether it was something negligible as anxiety to something significant as depression or schizophrenia were thrown into the most hostile asylums, therefore, making things worse for the patients.
Thankfully in the 1960s President Kennedy closed much of those asylums and replaced them with therapeutic centres.
SO WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?
According to the American Psychiatric Association
“Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behavior. Mental illnesses are associated with distress , problems functioning in social, work or family activities”.
Mental illnesses comes in different types and varies in severity .
Some of the major types are depression, anxiety, bipolar mood disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, trauma and eating disorders etc .
At some point in our lives we have and do face some form of mental issue, it isn’t something one should be ashamed of .
Our mental state can be affected by various factors like biological factors, traumatic experiences , lifestyle , past experiences etc.
Okay so that’s just some basic input about mental health.
But it isn’t something you would copy paste for your science assignment .
In reality its so much more serious and deeply impacting.
Especially during this time as the pandemic looms jobs are lost, businesses are in losses the stress and anxiety is building up day by day.
Front line workers are putting their lives at risk which is mentally and emotionally draining .
There has been a huge rise of domestic abuse among households as the families are compelled to stay inside their homes which is playing a huge risk not only in their relationships but also to their kids.
And as an Indian , mental health is not a topic people talk a lot about alot, the government doesn’t care much as in other countries, which highlights how backward our country is when it comes to crucial topics like this which can hugely impact and save peoples lives!
STIGMA
Mental illness is still seen as a taboo.
The social stigma associated with mental health problems almost certainly has multiple causes like religion, media, cultures and ethnicity. For example in Asian cultures, mental illnesses are often seen as a source of shame, because conformity is valued more so than individualism.
Throughout our history, anyone who suffered from mental issues has been brutally teated, they have been secluded and isolated.
They were always treated differently. This treatment may stem from the notions that people who suffer from mental illness are unpredictable and are violent.
Such behaviour and stigma made it impossible for people suffering from mental issues to recover and heal.
It may cause the person to avoid getting the help they needed because of the fear of being stigmatized.
There are a lot of dangerous effects of stigma. It makes the person question themselves, doubt themselves, feel shameful or embarrassed it might even lead to them harming themselves!
Dealing with mental issues is a battle in itself, it isn’t as recovering from an injury its a constant fight with the thoughts you have of you not being good enough, being weird, lost, incapable when you know you are more than enough and capable of so much more than you believe.
The only way we can spread mental health awareness is by removing the stigma people have towards mental illness! But for the rest of us, we should be more open-minded towards this issue and share our thoughts regarding this and just learn more as this issue is so vast and important!
Regardless of the stigma, I feel mental illness should be talked more openly about and discussed, it helps one cope with their emotions.
And one should also realize the fact that mental illness is not only harmful emotionally and mentally but also can cause long term chronic illness like heart problems, diabetes, stroke, cancer etc.
Therefore it so much more important to start talking and tackling the stigma and be there for each other no matter what we are going through.
MY STRUGGLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
As I pointed out earlier we all come in contact with mental illness at some point in our lives. And we all have very different ways to cope.
I happened to have a very traumatic childhood growing up with a father who was an alcoholic and who was emotionally and physically abusive towards me and my family, but things changed when my parents got divorced.
It was definitely hard to digest the fact I would grow up without a father.
I was the most depressed and lost and I didn’t really have anyone to talk to.
It was a chaotic time where I was bullied regardless and was the most vulnerable I’d been. I had the darkest thoughts.
But I fought it. I felt the most euphoric when I went skating, it was when I finally felt free. My self-esteem built little by little when I won matches, I tried opening up to mom, started reading, sketching, I was my own therapist.
Around 10th std, I finally started focusing on my studies and myself. It all began with self-care and self-love.
And later I did the thing I thought I would never do.
I told my father I forgave him. Even though it was just a one-line text, I felt redeemed.
I just want to let you all know, this is the way I healed, we all have different stories and you must do what’s best for you.
Don’t base or compare your journey to anyone else. No one can validate your journey to theirs. More power to you.
There’s one thing I noticed people have different ways of coping, some like to talk and get therapy, while some find therapy in themselves, some indulge in a hobby they are passionate about like the example I gave of myself.
Realize everyone is DIFFERENT, they have different approaches, they have different BATTLES even though some of us might have gone through something traumatic and have healed there is still a part of those times that haunt us.
AND IT’S OKAY TO SEEK HELP, IT’S OKAY TO TALK AND OPEN UP!
YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
You are strong to come this far and to fight day in and day out. And even if you believe in this or not but you have a purpose in life.
There are great things up ahead for you, more opportunities in your way, more amazing people to meet.
Honestly when I look back to those days when I felt I didn’t have any purpose and now I see how much God has blessed me and I was so wrong to think all that!
What has happened in the past cannot be changed all we gotta do is learn from it and become stronger than ever, and though it may seem hard, yet nothing hard comes easy, we gotta fight through it. And you will win!
If you are going through something serious I WANT YOU TO TALK IT OUT you can do it to anyone you trust, whom you know won’t judge you!
Hell, you can talk to me and I will be there!
Do anything but don’t keep it buried inside. SEEK THERAPY or get help it’s important, do some acts of SELF CARE, DO SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY.
Above all always remember that we all have different struggles in life and none of us are alone! EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT.
