Reflection paper on

"Let's break the Mental Health Stigma"

SW203

Submitted by: Aiyana A. Marrinez

Submitted to: Rebecca T. Valerio

"Are you ready to listen to my story?" A simple line yet very intriguing, a line that people say when they
feel the confidence and trust to share their story, a line that most people hear but often ignored. For
some it may be interesting and for others, they would find it boring. But does it even matter? How do
we respond when people try to share their stories? Do we even bother to ask how they feel? What's
going on inside their minds? Are they even doing okay? These are some of the questions I have in my
head upon learning this topic. I find it interesting knowing about how inner realities of people can affect
the interpersonal relationship with other systems and most importantly how the intraperaonal can
affect the person himself. I'm ever passionate about knowing what's going on a person's mind, the
stories they carry, the individuality that makes them unique and special and the way how they survive
the rough roads that life puts them through. This topic is very relatable and timely therefore relevant
and integral to be studied in philippine reality as this may help us understand not only about mental
health but also the issues that go along with it as well as the ways on how to handle and resolve cases of
mental health issues.

Mental health as what i comprehend is compromise of our emotional, psychological and social state of
well-being. In short, it is the state wherein a person is mentally healthy and by saying that, it means a
person is able to realize his or her potential, can cope with normal stresses of life, can work productively
and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. Inversely, mental illness is at
the opposite end of the spectrum. However, the line can be crossed putting individuals into the mental
illness end of the line. This is why this topic is relevant to be studied since anyone can be a victim, any
person can experience mental health issue and many had undergone this catastrophe at some point in
their life. As explained by ma'am Miranda, many factors can contribute to mental health issues and
these are the biological factors, life experiences and family history of mental health problems. As what I
perceive I would say that even though these factors are evident on patients diagnosed with mental
illness still the most common factor that causes mental health issue is the experience, the traumatic
events or the abusive situations greatly influence and affect a person's mental state. These experiences
are inevitable and unpredictable and therefore hard to control unlike the biological factor or family
history which can be anticipated if a patient was already diagnosed. Hence, experience plays a vital role
in our life and the outcome determines how we respond. As what Deodatta V. Shenai-Khatkhate said
"Each experience of life can make you either bitter or better. Each challenge can either make you
stronger or break you apart. Every unexpected wave can make you either sink or swim. The choice is
always yours wether you want to be a victim or a victor. Life is what you make of it-with the choices you
make every moment . Make a good one!" I am not comfortable sharing my life or past experience but
for the sake of probing and understanding mental health as well as sharing ways on how i dealt with it, I
am more than willing and honored. It will also be a way for me to release all the pent up feelings I had as
I have never shared this to anyone not even my family or closed friends. I am always that happy and
bubbly child but everything changed when I reached the age of 15, everything wasn't like the usual and
the reason behind this was the traumatic events occured that caught me offguard. First was the death of
my Grandpa, the person whom I love the most, the person who greets me every morning with
"goodmorning my princess" the person whom I thought will always be there to love and support me. I
was happy, I was doing great on my study because he's one of my inspirations and that moment was
gone forever, I will never see him again. I thought it was gonna end there but my sufferings just started
unwinding. I was transferred to the top pilot class. I thought it was gonna be okay but it went like hell. I
was humiliated, bullied and torn to pieces. People were just there to compete, if you can't contribute
anything then they won't even bother talking to you. I don't have have friends, I was a loner. No one was
there for me and this had greatly affected me. That's when depression hit me. I wasn't doing good on
class although I study so hard to keep up with them, I had frequent breakouts and that caused them to
hate me even more. I was repulsive for them, a weakling, a lost soul, an outcast. Even my teachers hate
me. Most of the time I go to the comfort room not to pee but to cry, I skipped classes, at home I just
sleep all day with all the windows and door shut. I was thriving in the dark. I was so lost and I often
thought of giving up. Suicide never left my mind. My suicide thought worsen when I found out that my
Grandma got a stage 4 cancer. My world was diminishing, everyday was a nightmare for me. I felt that I
don't want to wake up anymore. I don't wan't to live anymore because what's the use of living when I'm
dead inside? The bullying continues, the breakouts, the misfortunes, the hurt, the pain, the urge to die.
It still went on for more than a year. I was scared of everything, I was insecure, I hate myself, I was
anxious, I have frequent headache, I was mad all the time. It's like living was not an option anymore. But
why didn't I give up? Why did I hold on? What pushed me to continue my life? It's all because of the
endless love and mercy of God. I had no one but God. I couldn't share my problems to my family due to
the fact that I know that they were also suffering from grief and loss that's why I don't want to add up to
their problems. Another thing was I don't trust anyone at those times, i became mistrustful of people
because of the pain and discouragement in me. My Family was also one of the reasons why I wasn't
doing good. My dad was having an affair and seeing my mom cry kills me inside. The house and the
school were toxic for me. So I often go to church and stay there for hours, waiting for miracles to
happen. Those were the time when I started introspecting and built stronger relationship with God. I
was always a religious person but I couldn't understand why those things happened to me. Eventually I
have realized that evrything has a purpose and that purpose is to teach me to be stronger, to be a good
person, to be patient and to have stronger relationship with God. God is the main reason why I didn't
give up. Second is my dream of becoming Social Worker, during my sufferings no one was there to talk
to and that urged me to become a Social Worker who will listen patiently and eagerly to people who are
in pain and lastly is the belief that "everything is gonna be okay in the end, if it's not then it's not yet the
end." This mantra made me held on that life has to go on. Having been in that situation, made me aware
and knowledgeable of the myths and facts about mental health problems. I agree with the fact that
most people with mental illness are not violent because they feel vulnerable, scared and helpless. How
can you be violent when you are mostly scared of everything? The myth about people with mental
health issue are unproductive was a myth indeed for the fact that you can never tell if a person is
suffering from mental illness. I was pretending to be okay and still doing okay but deep inside I was dead
back then. People with mental health issue surely needs help and a strong support system is crucial in
their recovery. And just like my story, it proves that there's still hope.

This topic is indeed relatable to me and is a big issue in our society since then. Mental health is a serious
issue that shouldn't make fun of. It's not just a trend because it's happening worldwide and with anyone.
It's not something that's short term since it requires time and effort for recovery. The government
should focus on this matter more. People should be open enough to embrace the facts about mental
health issue and break the stigma that hinders the cure and acceptance of mental illness in society.
Lastly as a Social Worker, I am obliged and determined to give myself, my time and effort to be part of
the society's development and betterment of mankind. I am willing to serve the vulnerable, the outcast
and all those who needs help because I also have experienced pain and misery and I want to prove and
show that I'm a living proof that hope still exist. What's also good about being in the rock bottom is that
there's nowhere to go but up and that's what i wanted people to know, life must go on!