MENTAL HEALTH

Today, I want to talk about Mental health, a topic close to me.

Mental health affects everything and everyone differently. It can affect your ability to cope with everyday life, to adapt, to be happy, productive and well adjusted. It can affect how you think, act and feel and determine how you handle stress, and to some extent affects the choices you make throughout your life.

The sad thing is that living with an invisible illness, like depression or anxiety, often leads to judgement and criticism because others believe you look fine on the outside, and therefore must be 'making up' your suffering. I really wish this stigma would stop.

Me, Myself & I

I myself have reactive depression, which is a reaction to the stress brought on by a person or a situation. My situation is our daughter J and the troubles we have experienced over the years. Medication is currently helping me and has been for some time. But I have been in an extremely low state in the past so I certainly know how it can feel and I can most definitely relate to the stories I read. I also have anxiety, not extreme, but it is certainly there and has increased since the problems with J began.

I have never felt guilty for taking my anti-depressants, but I know a lot of people who do feel guilt, shame even. But would you feel guilty for taking tablets if you had diabetes? No. Would you feel guilty if you were off work with a broken leg? Also no. So what's the difference? I read somewhere that “Depression is just like a broken mind, and sometimes you need medication to help start the healing process if the wound is too deep to heal itself” – I love that explanation! More people need to realise this!

Although my depression is reactive to J, even on good days with her I can often feel that I don’t want to do anything, I have zero energy, I don’t want to socialise and the last thing I want to do is communicate how I feel to anyone. But I recognise these signs now and know the feeling will pass. For those that know me well, I will generally just go a bit quiet, but it doesn’t last long. It’s like I just need to rest, not only physically, but mentally too, on my own (if I’m lucky!). I am truly thankful to have a supportive family and amazing friends by my side who understand me.

Reaching Out

Today I wanted to take some time out to write and reach out to those who carry on regardless. To those who put on a brave face, only to remove it at night when they climb into bed. To those who find it hard to ask for help, or worse still, feel like they don’t deserve it. To those who feel that they don’t have anyone to talk to. This is for you.

You don’t need to deal with everything on your own, please let someone in. Don’t feel guilty asking for help. Remember, you are important and you matter in this world. There are lots of online forums nowadays set up for mental health and I know many people who, by engaging with an online community, feel a sense of connection and belonging, thus reducing feelings of loneliness. It’s not for everyone, granted, but it is there, if you only dip in and out of the forums when you need to.

If you know someone who might be struggling please just reach out to them. You might be the only one that does. Just one text could potentially save a life.

Read that sentence again … and just let it sink in for a minute.

School

I am a firm believer that mental health should be taught in schools. Afterall, that is where we learn to read and write, we learn History, Biology, Maths and more, but absolutely nothing about emotions.

Depression and anxiety among children is most definitely on the rise, especially as the pressures created around social media is ever increasing. Children today are exposed to way more negativity than I ever was as a child. There’s a certain peer pressure to look or act a certain way, to like this or like that, to wear the latest brands etc. What is happening to our once carefree world?

Surely we should be arming our children now with all the help needed to navigate their way through their young, impressionable years. Children spend an awful amount of time at school, it is where they build friendships and develop self-worth. Time is certainly precious when growing up and I firmly believe that schools should address the topic of mental health and prevent these rising issues now, not when the problem has already materialised.

If children are not taught the reasons why mental health is so important, then they won’t begin to understand the impact of spreading rumours or bullying for instance. They won’t understand the importance of kindness and empathy. We can’t always rely on parents educating their children inside the home, which is why I just hope more and more schools soon become more involved.

How amazing would it be if all topics related to mental health were covered in the curriculum...or at least some??