MENTAL HEALTH

In a follow on from my previous post, lets analyse the issues and stigma surrounding mental health.  Today, thousands of people are still suffering in relative silence from depression, anxiety or many other mental health issues.  Depression and anxiety are probably the two most common forms of mental illness.

I say that people suffer in silence because they feel that the people around them such as work colleagues, their boss, friends and even their family will not understand or be sympathetic to their illness.  Primarily because mental illness is not a visible illness like the flu or a broken leg.  However, they have a broken mind.

It is also hard to admit to others that you are suffering because of the issues I mentioned above but also because they themselves feel inadequate and stupid for feeling this way.  And this my friends is the vicious cycle.

People suffering from a mental illness simply want the people around them, especially their loved ones to be there and be understanding.  They don't want sympathy or pats on the head or people fussing around them.  They require people to understand what may trigger a bout of sadness or anger which is not generally aimed at the person but is a burst of frustration.

For loved ones, this can be extremely difficult to contend with.  It may appear that the person is flying off the handle and aimed their tyraid at you, but that is only because your there.  They are just as likely to yell at the dog if they were the only person around too.  Again, extreme bouts of sadness is brought on sometimes by a reaction to a situation that has become overwhelming and not necessarily a result of something you said or did.

Often the person suffering from the illness does not know themselves why they have these extreme emotions and again this is where frustration creeps in.  It is advisable for people who are with someone experiencing an episode to simply just be there.  Talk calmy and about normal things.  Don't try and solve their problem as it often makes things worse.

I urge everyone to look out for their loved ones as well as their friends, co-workers and neighbours.  Mental illness can affect anyone and often these people are very good at putting up a façade.  Just think back to the much loved Robin Williams.  I have watched in absolute awe some of his interviews with Parkinson and many others where he had everyone in stitches.  Yet, behind the smiling face and hundreds of voices was a man who was suffering from depression.  A deep depression that ultimately saw him take his own life.
I watch his video's and have a laugh at his wonderful comedy, yet cry at the same time because this troubled person could see no way out of his darkness and the world lost a true comic genius.

Just because someone looks and perhaps says that they are ok, doesn't necessarily mean that they are indeed ok.  Notwithstanding the normal pressures that come with living like, paying bills, working, driving, dealing with children etc there are many more manufactured pressures put on us like how we look, we are too fat or thin and don't look like a model, cant eat this or that, can't drink this or that either, can't discipline your children, your working too hard, your not working enough the list is endless.  We all experience these things and we all deal with them differently.  Just because you can handle most of these things, does not necessarily mean that I can and vice versa.

With these normal issues with life we then often get thrown a curve ball and experience a major trauma in our lives like death, accident, divorce, job loss etc etc.  If one is not handling day to day life very well then one of these will simply push them over the edge or take them very close to it.

We quite simply should be looking out for one another and ensuring that everyone is ok. 

That's my view.  Please look out for one another.