Mental health has been a pretty big topic in current events as of late, and for a good reason. But why should we care? Seriously. People with mental health are just crazy, right? There's no reason for us to make such a big deal of these weird people who have these issues in their heads. Mental health is not at all like asthma or diabetes. It's not physical, it's just in someone's head.
So often we treat mental health as something that doesn't matter like it isn't a real illness - and that's so unbelievably wrong. We have this climate within our culture where we don't accept people for who they are. We judge the way people act without taking a second to stop and think about what others are going through both mentally and physically.
One in four adults in the United States has a mental illness but 80 percent of those don't even seek treatment. If you asked me what I thought about people with mental illnesses five years ago I would have a totally different opinion.
The truth is, I've been dealing with both anxiety and depression and some mild Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (all diagnosed by medical professionals) for the last 12 years now. I thought nothing of it until I got to college and finally realized that I needed to get help. It was a tough decision because I had been so heavily entrenched in the stereotypes about people who suffered from mental illnesses. I didn't think that I, a normal person, could have a mental illness but I did and still do. There are days that I can barely get out of bed. There are days that I can't stop counting things (that's the OCD coming out) and I can't focus on anything except counting. I worry about everything all the time. Things have most definitely improved since I got on the right medications and began going to counseling. I would suggest checking out these options if you suffer the way I do. It's not a fun thing to live with and we need to work on changing the culture that we have surrounding mental health right now
I get frustrated when people online make comments like "I'm so depressed" or "I am so OCD." For those of us who actually suffer from these illnesses, it's not fair to make them a laughing matter. So next time you're sad or need something to be just right, don't say you're depressed if you've never experienced depression that so totally encompasses you and makes it nearly impossible to get out of bed. Don't say you have OCD because for those of us that do, it can be debilitating. Think before you say or post something.
