Did you know one in four people experience a mental health disorder? No one ever thinks it could be them or their close friends, better yet their family. Recently I’ve been struggling a lot with the idea that it is okay to speak out. With the idea that I am not broken but blessed that I have the opportunity to show how strong I truly am.
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With my luck, I am in the university chapter for To Write Love On Her Arms, here is where I learned more about breaking stigmas and where I got the idea of this article. One stigma that was hard for me alone to break was the association of having a mental disorder and being crazy. Growing up whenever the idea of someone having a mental illness I instantly thought that meant they lived in a mental institution. I couldn’t be more wrong. Because of this stigma, I was so afraid to even admit I had something wrong. This is why these stigmas need to end. Just think of all the men and woman that never got help because of fear of being crazy and now think of all the people who did not make it to tomorrow because of this stigma.
Another stigma that needs to be broken is that mental illness is not real. A good friend of mine told me on three different instances, “if your leg is broken everyone wants to help you but if your mind is broken you’re making it up.” Every time Taylor tells me this I cannot help but get chills because of how truthful those words are. If mental illness was not real, how would you explain scans that show activity more/less in parts of the brain compared to a healthy normal brain? Or even how to you explain the statistics: suicide is the second leading cause of death of people between the age of 15 and 24. Now, how many of those deaths could’ve been prevented if mental illness was accepted as something real?
The medication stigma with mental health needs to change as well. You do not have to take medicine to have or overcome anxiety, depression, OCD, and many other illnesses. Yes, I do believe it helps but I also did not begin taking medicine until years after I developed a mental illness. On this topic medicine, does not cure mental illness. You do not magically have all your thoughts and fear disappear once you take your pills.
Personally, the phrase, “have you taken your pills today?” irritates me the most. If you have ever been asked about taking your pill, you know it happens when you have mood swings, for instance being sad or mad. We are human, we can have bad days. This brings me to another stigma: if you have depression you are “overly sensitive or emotional” and that you just “need to grow up.” Depression and anxiety isn’t about growing up or dealing with your problems and fear, it is about real fears and genuine sadness that you cannot overcome.
I hope one day these and many more stigmas around mental health will end. I hope that people will not continue to lose their lives because of the harmful effects of these stigmas. These stigmas will end, if and only if you raise awareness and you yourself stop stigmatizing these disorders. No two people experience a mental disorder in the same way. Always remember it is okay to talk about it. You are not crazy or overly sensitive. You are more than your disorder. Your disorder is real.
