May is a great month for so many reasons. It’s the last month of school for me. This year I get to send my son to science camp. It’s finally spring, with wonderful spring-like weather.
And it’s Mental Health Awareness Month!
There are still way too many people who use mental health terms as negative adjectives to describe people whose behavior they find different from their own. All that does is minimize the people who suffer from those conditions and make them feel ashamed and less than everybody else.
You don’t hear people say “They’re so broken leg.” or “They are so breast cancer.”
These are all very real illnesses that affect people in very real ways. Just because you can’t see how anxiety or depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder affects someone doesn’t make it any less debilitating than a broken arm.
Just ask the person who can’t leave their house because of overwhelming anxiety that causes a panic attack at the thought of driving down the street or the one suffering from suffocating depression that leaves them too exhausted to get out of bed on a daily basis.
Statistics say that 1 in 4 people will suffer from a mental illness in any given year. That’s a whole lot of people! And all those people know people so it’s very likely that ever single person knows somebody who is suffering from a mental illness. If you know somebody is struggling with a mental illness, do you really want to make them feel worse by using their illness as a negative adjective when it’s really just a noun?
This month is all about raising awareness of mental health. I firmly believe that everybody should have a therapist on speed dial, but not everybody has health care that covers that (that’s a whole other topic), so…
Please be aware that not all illnesses are visible. That not everyone who is in pain is going to show you. Maybe its you who’s hiding the pain behind a smile, or an “I’m fine.” Maybe it’s your best friend that you don’t even know about their struggle because they’re too ashamed to tell you because of the words you use.
Please be aware of the words you choose to use.
Please be aware that sometimes people just need you to be there for them to listen to them; to hold them; to let them be who they are and let them feel how they feel and to let them know that it’s okay to not be okay.
If you or someone close to you is struggling with mental health issues or thoughts of suicide please use one of these hotlines or visit one of these websites or reach out to someone for help. In the case of an emergency call 9-1-1.
National Suicide Hotline–1-800-273-8255 or go to
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
National Alliance on Mental Illness– 1-800-950-6264 you can also text NAMI to 741-741 or visit
https://www.nami.org/Find-Support/NAMI-HelpLine#crisis
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