How Important is Mental Health to You?
^ from: www.warringtonparentsandcarers.org (best I could find) - How important do you think mental health awareness is? This post offers my own thoughts in regards to mental health and its importance.
How important is mental health to you? How important should mental health be? I will offer some talking points to describe my position on this issue. Please take a look...
Inspirations Behind This Discussion.
I thought about individuals who have certain personal issues that prevent them from living happily and freely. I began thinking about popular ones who committed suicide. Besides celebrities, a meteorologist from FOX 2 in Detroit named Jessica Starr committed suicide recently after complications from recovering from LASIK surgery.How about other celebrities who have committed suicide? There's Verne Troyer ("Mini Me" from the Austin Powers series) who battled alcohol addiction. You have Dave Mirra- one of the best in action sports with his BMX expertise, who took his own life, once mentioning how he's been overwhelmed with a complete lack of competitive fire. D. Mirra also suffered from CTE. Let us not forget Kate Spade- a well-renowned fashion designer who was so successful and built up quite a reputation... until she committed suicide. How can someone so successful take his/her own life? Could there be things outside of one's success in a certain arena not equal happiness?
No matter how you look at it, the people we know and love may be people we don't entirely know. People have their own mental health issues- whether it is depression or any sort of mental illnesses. We may be perfectly fine but still have our own personal issues that bring us down mentally. Regardless, even someone who may not have deep mental issues can still vastly suffer in the realm of mental health.
So Why Don't We Discuss Mental Health?
In a lot of mainstream discussions, people like to say something like, "the first rule of (something) is that we do not discuss (something)." So even if it is on your mind, most people generally want nothing to do with mentioning something. Wanting to discuss mental health is a big topic because it can play a role in how we act and take care of ourselves. If we become depressed or make lifestyle choices that hurt us (such as not exercising), our own mental well-being could be to blame. Things like this surely need to be discussed with others to aid in helping us feel better.The reason why we do not discuss mental health with others is the same reason why a lot of us don't like discussing our own problems- fear of either being rejected, misunderstood, or not being able to find needed help right away. People even feel that discussing problems with others only makes them weak. Almost as if to say one should never have any kind of personal problems or demons. As we all know, though, that is not true. Someone completely happy and content may be hiding some of their own personal issues; and if they try to talk about those issues with some other people, it only makes them weak inside. People are not invincible. You think you're the best driver in the world... until you get into a car crash. You are a male who has sex with multiple female partners... then you end up with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or have females accuse you of fathering their children. We can pretend to be the strongest people to ever live, but deep inside, we know there will be certain demons who will win over us. And as the motto of "John's Life Space" suggests...
Life happens.
Mental Health and Clinical Depression.
Some people don't feel personally happy often times. I surely have had these feelings before. I considered myself as a person whom has had episodes of depression and having to battle my own demons and thoughts on a regular basis. Thankfully, my own bouts with depression haven't reached levels to where some other people have had depression. Imagine being so depressed that it not only affects your mental aspect, but also your own physical breakdowns and not even wanting to leave your own room, let alone leave your own house.When I had problems in my college days, I looked to friends and counselors rather than members of my family because I felt I would be better served being around people who I felt understood me more and that I could feel better with. This led to me being more self-reliant than wanting to be with other people.
What NOT to Do or Say.
Someone who may be suffering from actual mental health issues shouldn't be told to straighten up right away. To some people, turning around someone's mental health issues is not the flip of a switch. It is like telling a depressed person to stop being so sad. A depressed person could be suffering from feeling down and disrespected all the time. What good do you think you are doing by trying to get someone to try to be happy and "normal?" Sometimes, talking down on someone who is already down could possibly make one's mental health issues worse. You may even be hurting someone further you may not realize could already be hurt. One thing I like to say: "you can not solve one's problems by adding to it." People suffering mentally need all the help they can get and all the attention they can get in trying to feel better as a whole.Mental Health is No Joke.
There are people who may casually make mention to things regarding mental health. For example, as a YouTube user, I have gotten comments constantly about how I look and sound retarded. I can assure you that 99% of those who think that way have no idea about my actual mental condition. Some people just assume that I am mentally retarded just because I don't look or sound like any "normal" person. I even heard the expression "full retard mode." Look- if you don't know a person's actual mental state, do not discuss or criticize someone for those reasons. People do and say certain things that seem left of what a normal person may think or believe, but there is a difference between someone who acts irrationally and someone who actually suffers from actual mental health issues.The same can be said about people who joke about having autistic moments or anything like that. I was not formally diagnosed with autism (that I know of), but I am told I am autistic. So I sometimes feel a bit irked when someone jokingly discusses autism. I am very certain a lot of people mean no harm in actually discussing something like autism or any other mental health issue. Some may even jokingly discuss someone having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). My only suggestion- be careful what you say and be mindful of others.
Now let me share with you some final thoughts before I close out this blog post.
How Much of a Deal is Mental Health to You? Final Thoughts
I hate bring up such depressing material and discussing depressing things, but we need exposure to these things because (for lack of a better expression) life happens. Mental health is a serious matter. There has to be a delicate balance in trying to work with someone to help him/her feel better mentally. We simply can not help those hurting mentally by complicating matters or not knowing how we can actually help people or by saving them from doing something he/she will regret for a long time to come (like inflicting violence to others or oneself).
I look at it like this in cyberspace. We all are ready to post Internet memes or make fun of people for our own enjoyment based on certain things we find comical. Yet, when given the opportunity to try to help someone potentially in need, we do hardly anything to help. We are usually the ones who will try to offer almost anything to help people find love or enhance one's sexual health. Yet, when it comes to mental health or bullying or whatever, there aren't as many resources or not as much help to offer. Our society is mostly a hot mess of fail with inconsistent priorities. A person dealing with certain mental health issues is as vulnerable as anyone else with any kind of health ailments. As such, we need to do a lot more to try to bring mental health to light while also doing what we can to help people feel better. Solving such issues can take anywhere from a few seconds to basically a lifetime. Whatever the case, mental health is nothing to be ignored or taken lightly. Essentially, as someone who can help others, you could basically hold someone else's well-being in your own hands. So what are you going to do with someone who may be in mental crisis?
I basically think mental health is serious and real. A lot can be done to try to help out others. Even the lightest of mental health issues should be taken with some degree of seriousness. Mental health can be a very serious and very real deal.
The majority of this post and its subject matter is completed. Care to discuss? Here is my question to you:
How importantly do you take mental health issues?
Even though this post may seem like I did it with the help of BetterHelp, I did all of this post on my own from thinking about this issue to discussing it professionally. Though if someone from BetterHelp is reading this, I hope you enjoyed this post I made. I hope you enjoyed this post anyways. All I do with "John's Life Space" is discuss life issues in my own way and offer advice where need be. Having said all of this, I must leave you in hopes I have enlightened and inspired you. Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.
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