Mind Space
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Shedding light on mental illness stigma
My entire life, I have been surrounded by mental illness. Before it was something I dealt with personally, I watched other people in my family struggle with it. Furthermore, I watched them deal with the judgment and lack of understanding.
At the time, I judged them. I did not understand.
You see, when I was young, I was told I could not rely on people with mental health issues. I grew very angry towards all those who I saw struggling with depression and anxiety. Now, I realize that not only did I fail to understand, but there were a lot of other people in my life who didn’t and, unfortunately, still do not.
The summer before my eighth grade year was my first real run-in with poor mental health. Leading up to this year, I spent each summer outside. I was rarely inside, almost always swimming. When school came back into session, I was tan and happy.
This particular summer, I hardly left my bed. I didn’t have the energy or the motivation. I didn’t see the point. Through a cruel twist of fate, I was starting to understand what I had been seeing but misunderstanding all of my life.
Through the school year, I bounced back a little. I was doing a lot better. I had hope for myself going into high school and getting on with my life.
Freshman year turned everything around. It was so much worse. I’m not sure how much to share, but things were bad.
In FACS and Foods through middle school, we discussed eating disorders. Once again, I was at a loss. Why would you starve yourself? Why would you force yourself to throw up? How could anyone hate their body so much that they would blatantly disregard something so vital to their survival?
I learned the answer to those questions the hard way. It led to many, many other problems that I dealt with. I didn’t talk to anyone. All my life, I had watched people deny my family’s struggles with mental illness. I thought I was fine, I was just being dramatic. It’s what I had always been told. Getting help was hard.
"Understanding and support goes a very long way with helping those struggling with mental illness."
A lot of my friends knew. But I don’t think any of them grasped just how bad things were. One day, I was having a really hard time. I was skipping lunch again and one of them finally said, “Tell someone or I will.”
Some people understood. They got me the help I needed. Unfortunately, they couldn’t always be there. A lot of times, I slipped up because no one was watching.
Other people were no help. They told me I didn’t have an eating disorder. They told me everyone has anxiety and that I just needed to deal with it. They told me that I wasn’t depressed, that I had nothing to be depressed about.
Unfortunately, the second group of people always seemed much louder to me than the first. I always took their words to heart and ignored all the people trying to help me. This added so many extra problems to my recovery. Everytime someone invalidated what I was going through, I was put yet another step back.
Compared to other people, I was never that sick. A part of me agrees with all the people telling me everything was in my head because I was doing great next to some people. I still know that I was hurting and in need of help, and I almost wish I could go back to that state just to prove that I was struggling. Thankfully, I have reached a point where I realize that I do not need everyone’s validation for my sickness to be real. I just worry for those who haven’t yet.
Understanding and support goes a very long way with helping those struggling with mental illness.
That being said, I get why people sometimes just don’t grasp it, because I was there once myself. It’s hard to understand when mental illness isn’t something you experience.
The best thing that can be done to help ease the stigma surrounding mental illness, in my opinion, is education and having an open mind. Mental illness is just as real as any other medical condition that is tangible and visible, like a broken bone or a cough. If people could learn more about this and be more open to helping and listening, talking about it would be so much easier for those who are struggling with it. Communication saves lives when it comes to this. What we can do is make communicating easier.
Furthermore, romanticizing mental illness needs to stop. These are things that people really, truly struggle with. When being depressed or anxious or having OCD becomes “popular” or “cool”, it puts yet another obstacle in the way of those who need help.
If you are struggling with your mental health, it’s crucial that you talk to someone. It is so, so scary and definitely not easy, but it helps a lot more than you would think. You can talk to a counselor, a parent, even a friend. The bottom line is you don’t have to deal with it alone. Also, remember that it will get better, even when it seems like it won’t.