Let's Talk Mental Health

In light of the recent influx of news regarding celebrities committing suicide, I think it’s important to open the floor to discuss mental health. It’s startling to see the number of recent suicides in the news. Even in my personal life, I recently discovered someone close to my family killed themselves. It’s important that we keep the discussion on mental health and suicide prevention alive at all times – not just when a celebrity kills themselves or when the new season of 13 Reasons Why is released.

Why you may ask? Because we need to normalize mental illness in order to lessen the stigma surrounding it. One of the first things you hear someone say after news breaks of, yet another suicide is “they seemed fine! I guess you never really know what someone is going through.” And that’s right, you never truly know what someone is going through unless they tell you and quite often the person in question isn’t going to talk about what they’re going through because mental illness is so stigmatized in society. For example, if someone has a sore throat they have no problem explaining that to people. Same if you have a cold or any other physical aliment. Now say you’re having an off day or you’re experiencing any other number of symptoms resulting from your mental illness, how often do you tell others how you’re feeling? Too often do those suffering put on a brave face or simply give a vague response like “I’m just tired.” Because that’s easier than saying it’s because of your mental illness.

It’s too common for those living with mental illness to suffer in silence because of how society treats mental health. Instead of being met with understanding they’re met with hostility, disbelief, or they’re simply shrugged off. This stigma stems from the general lack of knowledge on mental health and the portrayal of mental health in the media. The portrayal of mental health is often over-saturated images of sad teens and broken hearts, dramatized suicide scenes used for shock value, and characters like Hannah Baker that use suicide as a revenge method. You see someone talking about mental health and the comments range from “what do they have to be depressed about?” “How could they leave behind their family?” “We all get sad sometimes”.

Yeah, that’s not how mental illness works.

Mental illness doesn’t give a shit who you are, what you do, how much money you have, NONE of that matters. Mental illness will still creep into your life, poison your mind, and then act like it didn’t just shit on your entire life. Depression is not just “feeling sad”, it’s feeling so fatigued that you’re too tired to take care of yourself. It’s neglecting your responsibilities and self-care because you just can’t find the motivation or energy and you don’t care about the consequences. Anxiety is more than getting stressed out. It’s dread and panic seeping into your chest and tightening its grip till you can’t breathe. Bipolar Disorder is more than “mood swings.” People can experience Bipolar Disorder in a number of ways. Schizophrenia is not the image that media and entertainment has painted. It’s not people that are “violent”, “unstable”, or constantly have delusions or hallucinations. The media as mentioned before, tries to portray over-saturated depictions of mental health, showing schizophrenics as “insane” and suffering from psychotic episodes instead of showing the other symptoms associated with the disorder.

The more you educate yourself on mental health, the better the discussion can be. Discussing mental health should be as common as telling someone you have the flu. We need to be able to open the floor to these topics so that those living with mental illness feel more comfortable with talking about it. If we keep stigmatizing mental illness, those suffering will continue to fear talking about the things they deal with and as a result, more people will continue to suffer alone in fear of how others will react or treat them. It’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to admit you need help and to seek help. It’s okay to reach out and go to therapy, counselling, etc. It’s okay to take medication. You are valid, and you should not be shamed for living with mental illness.

We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to end the stigma and start spreading knowledge, compassion, and understanding. We can’t allow those suffering to be ignored, bashed or met with judgement. Suicide prevention starts with us. If someone opens up to you, listen and try to understand what they’re going through. Don’t wait until there’s another headline or hashtag to make an effort.

Reach out to your friends and family. Let them know you hear them, you care about them, and you need them to still be here. Some people find comfort in calling hotlines and talking to strangers because it’s easier for them but there are many others that will not pick up the phone and call a number to talk to someone they don’t know. Let your loved ones know they can trust you to listen and be there for them. For those living with mental illness: please, do not be afraid to tell someone you’re hurting, or you need help. I would rather spend hours listening to someone talk about their problems than for them to feel hopeless and lost.