Discussing Mental Health
You know what I often wonder?
Why our mental health can be so hard to talk about.
In this day and age I find mental health and mental illness simply so hard to talk about. If we look back in time historically than we have actually improved with how we treat those with mental illness, we have improved with how we address it, how we treat it, how we research it to better understand and therefore better treat it. But, we’re still not great. I think right now in society it comes down to sharing about it. To talking about it.
If we look at the person who is going through the issue, it could be difficult to share and talk about for a number of reasons. To open up to people; to family, to friends…to anyone. To say that you are struggling; you’re not coping. You might feel shame. Feel guilt. Feel anger. You might be worried it will impact your employment. The field you work in. It might impact your relationships. You may feel a lot, and all kinds, of emotions. And they’re all valid...all super okay to feel.
What we need to get better at is understanding and realising that this is all okay.
It’s okay to struggle and not be able to cope all the time. It’s completely normal - it’s life. There is absolutely nothing to feel ashamed or guilt of. You don’t need to feel angry or upset at yourself. You don’t need to compare yourself to other people; people who you may view ‘normal’ because of the stigma that has surrounded mental health for years and years now.
If we look at the people who maybe hear of someone close to them, or not, who opens up and says they’re struggling. They’ve been diagnosed with this mental illness. They too could feel a lot of things. Sadness. Helplessness. Uncomfortable. Uneducated. I think the thing we often run into here is that people don’t know how to respond. People don’t know how to behave around you. People are not educated enough on mental health and mental illnesses. I often wonder and think if only people understood all that mental health encompasses. Understood mental illnesses better. If only it was introduced at an earlier age for people to be taught about it so that everyone is aware and gain an understanding about it, equip themselves with knowledge.
Maybe then it wouldn’t be such a big, scary, un-talked about, stigmatised topic. People would learn that it is in fact an illness. It is a type of illness. And just like some illnesses, some can be cured, and others unfortunately cannot be - not to the full extent at least.
If we think about a very real, a very prominent disease all around the world – cancer - for a second. Some cancers can be treated; with chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries - people can be healed and in remission. For others, the cancers too far along. It’s one that no one’s found a cure for yet. It can’t be treated - not to the full extent where they’re healed.
Now think about this - mental illnesses. Some can be treated; with the implementation of different theories and research to come up with effective ways to help them, whether that’s behavioural plans, targeting thought patterns, art therapy, or other things - over time they can be treated and improved. Some may need to be prescribed medication to help treat the illness.
For others, it can’t always be treated and improved. Maybe it can be maintained in some way, but it can’t necessarily be improved so that they can come out the other end and say they’re all better.
Now just think about these both...compare the two a bit.
There’s a lot of similarities, no?
If we can talk about physical health illnesses, like cancer, with a willingness to share about it, to discuss it, to educate ourselves on it....I think we should be able to talk about mental health illnesses, like anxiety, depression, PTSD, in the same way.
People praise people who come out of and survive cancer, which is an illness. They commend them for staying strong and going through some of the worst experiences in their lives. They are talked about by others in admiration and respect. It’s news. Good, inspiring news.
Yet then you have people who work through and survive a mental illness…also an illness, are treated in a totally different and sometimes undignified way. No one praises them for battling through. Instead, people joke and mock them for struggling. No one commends them for staying strong and being resilient through some of the toughest times of their lives. Instead, people laugh and say they’re weak and other people who experience something similar are just fine, so you were exaggerating, you were lying. They aren’t talked about with admiration or respect. Instead, they’re talked about with disgust or disrespected with jokes and unknowledgeable “facts”. It’s news alright. But for all the wrong reasons.
So, I wonder why?
Why can’t people praise and commend those who are battling an ongoing mental illness. Who are trying so hard to work on their mental health? Why can’t they be talked about with admiration and respect for staying strong and continuing to fight their individual struggles and battles every single day.
I think that if people did...everything would change.
Throughout the bible a lot of people suffered and when Jesus was on earth he healed and performed many miracles. God doesn’t like to see us suffer. He doesn’t like to see us hurt. When we are hurt, He hurts with us. When we are sad, He is sad with us. When we suffer, He suffers with us.
In 1 Peter 5:7 it tells us to “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”.
And in Philippians 4:6-7 it says “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Not an easy thing to do when it comes to actually doing it. But God doesn’t want to see us suffering. He doesn’t want to see us struggling to hold the weight of something we never were meant to carry. He wants to take that weight, that burden off us so that we can walk more freely in our days.
When you come into trouble, when you face a challenge…what do you do? When you're faced with a mental illness....what do you do? Where do you run to? WHO do you run to?
God, our Heavenly Father, wants us to run to HIM. To the One who cares so much for us He sent His one and only son to die for us so that we could have eternal life. To the One who wants us to cast all our anxiety onto Him because He CARES, and He doesn’t want us to be the ones to carry it.
I’m not here writing this saying I’m perfect at this, I do this all the time. No way. I definitely don’t. There are times when I get so caught up in the anxiety and fear and the unknown of what I may be facing that I just don’t go to God first up. I try to keep the control and I try to carry the weight of it and I try to fix it on my own. Let me tell you from first-hand experience….it never works.
There have been times when I then finally give it to God, cast my anxiety, my challenges, whatever it is I’m facing and suddenly I feel free. And suddenly doors are opening. Suddenly the issue doesn’t seem so big anymore. All glory to God there.
So, what will you do when you next face something? When you next face a mental health challenge? You get a bad diagnosis. You don’t know how to help your friend who is working through a mental illness?
I pray that you turn to God. And let Him help you. Let Him carry the weight and guide you along.
My dream is that this space is a place, a community, where you may feel safe to share. To share not only your wins, your strengths, your positive days, but also to share you struggles, your losses, your challenges.
Let’s share together, let’s learn together, and let’s start to change this society’s viewing and stigma around mental health and mental illnesses.
As more people start to share, start to discuss, start to educate…people’s thoughts, minds-sets, opinions, understanding surrounding mental health and mental illnesses…I think it would all start to change.
And that would be a beautiful thing.
A beautiful thing that needs to happen.