MENTAL HEALTH

You are such an attention seeker, don’t be so dramatic, man up dude, self harm is
not the solution to your issues, you are very ungrateful despite having everything_
we all have faced these words atleast once in our life _ people use these words
because they don’t understand that mental illness is a real illness as it is
stigmatized everywhere in society so maybe I should explain what mental illness
is, it is a condition of depression, bipolar, anxiety disorders, intellectual
disturbance, addiction to alcohol and drugs and all these things hit the same part
of the brain that leads to suicidal thoughts and people do suicide.
Depression and anxiety are the growing problems today but they are largely
ignored as they are doubted in society because we can’t see them? And the only
people who can feel them are the people who have them they can see the battle
inside them. I wanna clear a misconception that no one asks to put anxiety or
depression into their life. Unfortunately many people with mental illness have told
atleast once in their life just snap out of it and trust me if anyone could snap out of
it he/she could have done it long before anybody had to tell them, because it is not
something they chose to put it into their life.
The World Health Organization has estimated that about 20% world’s
population suffers from mental illness, A billion people worldwide, so everyone
should know someone who suffers from mental disorder but many of may think we
don’t, and this condition reflects 3 inconvenient truths
 We lack an understanding of mental illness
 We are reluctant and ashamed to admit it
 That mental illness is highly stigmatized
And I can never understand that is mental illness a disgrace or dishonor to
anyone’s personality?
Anyways I wanna share a similar case that tells how stigmatized mental illness is, a
girl named Leslie she went to hospital complaining of stomach pain and she
admitted that she had bulimia (Bulimia is a severe mental disorder due to social,
biological and psychological factors and its just a fear of being obese) anyways
rather treating her symptoms you know what dr. said he said; you did it to yourself
you had to fix it yourself, Leslie’s stomach burst and she died poor girl she could
not fix it herself
And now imagine taking your friend to a hospital with the broken leg and dr.
saying to you, he had to fix it himelf he fell off his bike, it is his fault. You cant
even imagine right?
This is the stigma at its worst, this is the stigma that discriminates, it is everywhere
it is in the media it is in the words we use it is in our behaviors. 3 out of 4 people
who struggle with mental illness report feeling stigmatized.
I can prove here that how much stigmatized mental illness is by just asking 2
question so if I ask a question do you know anyone who got treatment for cancer or
heart disease there would be so many people, but similarly if I ask my other
question do you know anyone who got treatment for mental illness, we know the
answer. How ironic is that! There is no health without mental health, WHO has
determined that major depression is the leading cause of major disabilities, it
is head of heart disease, it is a head of stroke and related diseases and it is a head of
traffic accident but still people feel ashamed to talk about it, there is no shame it is
as serious as any other existing disease , talk about it, it might possible you could
save a life.
Sometimes a wonder why have we made depression a taboo? Why don’t we allow
people to express themselves if they want to? Why don’t we ask them to share their
sorrows just as their joy? Why have we made it mandatory to be strong all the
time? So many questions
For me instead of reinforcing these so called social norms by giving them frivolous
suggestions just tell them the truth of life. Bad luck happens , loved ones leave and
most importantly humans have no complete control over their lives. If you see
them tired of life do hear them wipe their tears and the least you can do is stop
labeling people and passing judgements on their behavior.
I wanna give suggestion to the people who are fighting their battles. “face and
accept the Reality of life”
You just have to learn how to deal with such crisis instead of pretending to be
okay. It is a proven fact that hiding is more painful that the actual wound. You
wanna cry? Cry as much as you want but just focus on yourself. One day when you
will achieve peace from within try to make peace with the surrounding
At the I just wanna say when people truly understand that mental illnesses are not
choices that will reduce the stigma and reducing stigma will save lives.