When I talk about depression, anxiety, OCD and all common mental illness, I feel like a broken record. I feel like the world that isn't affected by mental illness doesn't hear me, and on top of that, doesn't care. It's not until it's personal--until it's you, your mom, dad, sibling or close family member--that many people seem to take a stand to fight the fight to end the stigma. I know many people may disagree with me and I'm open to that. But in my honest opinion, I believe one of the most powerful ways in which we can change the stigma surrounding mental illness is by normalizing it. Now I know that sounds scary, maybe even a little crazy, but hear me out. What if having depression was treated like someone that had a cold or the flu? Would people react differently? Would they be more supportive, more willing to help?
To that, my answer is yes. Whenever I get sick cold, flu, cough you name a normal illness that we're all afflicted with, my friends and family are always quick to offer to make me soup, or pick me up medication. They are there offering support in order to help me get better. When people discuss mental illness such as depression or anxiety, to name some of the most common, very few people are there offering help or to help the person suffering get help. Some people understand it and do offer help, and others look at you with glazed over eyes with not the slightest clue what it might be like to not even make it out of bed in the morning. Some teachers aren't sensitive to students who suffer from crippling social anxiety. There are so many instances in society today where mental illness is treated as an uncommon disease, and many people have no idea how to deal with it.
The argument has been made that people with mental illness are attention seeking by being vocal about their struggles and asking for help. I completely disagree. Just as with any illness like a cold, the flu or even cancer, people seek support, guidance and help--not attention. To belittle their struggles to attention seeking in my opinion is simply cruel.
When I suffered, I suffered in silence. I suffered alone because I didn't know how to ask for help, and when people noticed, I denied it. I refused it and I turned away because I truly felt like no one could understand. Seeking help, going to therapy and finding out I had a family history of depression changed my life. Hearing other people's stories and struggles made me realize that there are so many people that have had to fight my fight and win my war. I was never alone; I simply isolated myself. And I know there are so many people who were just like me, convinced the world cannot understand their struggle because depression is attention seeking; it's weak to not be able to get out of bed in the morning or to fight through feelings of worthlessness. Depression is none of those things.
Everyone has met someone who is or has been depressed. I guarantee that, but we cannot see it. We have no way of knowing. This is why education and normalization are so important. Again if see someone sneezing or coughing we offer them a tissue and a cough drop. But we can't see a depressed person, someone who suffers from crippling anxiety or has OCD. We are not taught to recognize this. Embracing mental illness as a part of our culture is not romanticizing it or encouraging it; it's supporting the fact that many people suffer and that no one is alone in their fight.
We cannot end the stigma of mental illness if we don't talk about it, if we don't see both sides of the coin. In the past 50 years we've come incredibly far, we've come from a society that sent people away, that allowed shock therapy and shamed people who suffered from mental illness into silence to a society that is fighting tooth and nail to make mental illness 'normal'. The reality is that mental illness is everywhere; it effects everyone whether or not we individually posses the perspective to realize this. It is embedded in our culture to the point that many people cannot see it.
Mental illness is just as destructive, just as debilitating as physical illness. Although we've made so many strides, I hope to some day live in a world where we can talk about normally, comfortably and not belittle others struggles to attention seeking or telling them that by talking about it they're wearing their disease as a badge of honor. Suffering, fighting, and winning the fight of mental illness is something to be proud of, something to be talked about and celebrated. I'm ready to live in a world where talking about my depression, my anxiety isn't seen as attention seeking or romanticizing; it's simply a story of my struggle and a celebration of my fight.
If you or someone you know is suffering, find help here or talk to someone you know. You are never alone in your struggle.
