Hi, my name is Rachel and I’m a 27-year-old medical professional and I have a mental health disease. No, I’m not crazy, I’m not troubled, I’m actually depressed. I’ve been battling mental health disease since I was 17 but officially diagnosed when I was 25. If you took a good look at me, you’d never know that I have severe depression and anxiety. I don’t have it written across my forehead and I don’t have it tattooed anywhere on me. I’m like any normal twenty-something but you’d never know that I’m sick. In fact, it’s considered an invisible disease. An invisible disease with a very large stigma behind it.
Now, you might be wondering why I chose to use the word “stigma” while speaking about mental health. I use the word “stigma” because what people have perceived to believe that people with a mental health issue are viewed as unstable, crazy, threatening and uncomfortable. We’ve been portrayed in the media as being locked away in an asylum in a padded room left to our own devices, or just too unstable to adapt to general society. According to Psychology Today Magazine, this is called social stigma. It includes prejudicial attitudes and discriminating behavior directed at those because of their psychiatric label (i.e.: Depression, Bi-Polar, etc.). To contrast this, there is also self-stigma, which happens when the patient is internally punishing themselves for what they have. This brings on shame, as well as poor treatment on the patient and it can push treatment even further back. This connects a person with depression to suicidal ideations. According to SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education), suicide is the 10th leading cause of all ages in the United States, and only half of all Americans that experience an episode of major depression, seek treatment.
While these statistics are startling, more needs to be done in terms of government funding and proper treatment for those with a mental health disease. Much too often, depression is often glamorized in the media as having something "beautiful" and that the love of your life will pop up and save you from yourself, and the face slapping reality is that THIS IS NOT TRUE! Depression is far from beautiful and no one can save you from yourself but yourself. Having depression and having a significant other is very hard and if you can find someone who will love both sides of you, then you've hit the jackpot because lets face it, you're in a 3 person relationship at this point; it's yourself, depression and your significant other.
Why am I writing something about this for a website that’s here to produce happy content? Well, why not? May 1st starts Mental Health Awareness month and this is a subject that needs to not only be brought to light, but to start a friendly discussion about this subject matter. Lend an ear to someone who needs to be heard, be a shoulder for that person to cry on. Pass along the phone number for the suicide prevention hotline; anything that can be done to help someone might just save their life. I know for me it’s helped. There are so many resources for those of us that carry this burden yet because of that social stigma, it’s very hard to seek treatment without feeling shame.
In closing, I challenge you, the reader, to start a friendly conversation in public about the stigma against mental health. You never know, you might just save someone’s life.
If you or someone you know is suffering from depression or expressing thoughts of suicide, call 911, go to the nearest emergency room or call 1 800 273 8255.
