Bryan Lewis Saunders Reflection

First and foremost, I will by no means doubt that Bryan is a talented and skilled artist. As
someone who loves art myself, I was truly amazed by his artistic creativity. I even delve into a
little bit more about his language and cultural interests. He learned Mandarin and the Asian
culture. He even traveled to China to explore more about the culture.
The first couple minutes I started to watch the documentary, I started to sympathize and
felt so bad for Bryan. I even started to imagine how he even managed to stay alive in his teenage
years. As a nurse clinician, I had to empathize with him that he was truly a victim of so many
entities. Starting in his childhood, his life began to be violated by his mother, law enforcement,
and others. Despite all the physical and mental anguish that he suffered, he has shown a great
deal of resilience. He began to discover a new way of life when he was away from his abusers.
His story shed light on the emotional suffering of so many individuals, especially men. They are
suffering from depression and underlying stress because they have told them that as a man you
need to be strong, and talking about your problems is a sign of masculine weakness. Many years
ago, I concluded that as a male it is perfectly acceptable to seek psychological support by
reaching out to my support system. There is nothing wrong with recognizing that I do not have
limitless energy to endure life, so taking steps to practice self-care is vital.
The mental health aspects of his story have shaped my thinking about any person with a
mental disorder in a positive light. It is so unfortunate that we live in a society where mental
health can be categorized as a buzzword. Many people that we see today as disgusted and
unwanted could have been valuable citizens if they had gotten the professional help that they
needed. For example, serial killers, drug dealers, and prostitutes did not just appear by mistake
on the street. On the contrary, I am not condoning the negative impacts they have on society, but
I can agree that many of them were abused by the people who were entrusted to take care of
them. As we can see in Bryan’s story, he was subject to failure at an early age. He was robbed of
a prosperous life that could have shaped a much better future for him.
Bryan’s story opens the door to so many issues related to mental health. The bigger
picture is that psychological trauma does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin,
sex, religion, or age. For instance, if a parent starts to abuse a child both verbally and physically,
they are creating a monster that will later bully others in school as a result. When I think deeply
about it, I can see why nursing as a profession is multidimensional, and the reason why nurses
need to use a holistic approach to care for patients.