Overtime,
it floods uncontrollably out of you.
We, as a
society, are fundamentally awful at talking about mental health. As soon as the
topic comes up we avoid it like the plague—That’s harmful. That silence can be
deadly, so it’s about time we break it and scream from the rooftops about
mental health because it should not be
ignored.
There is an enormous stigma
surrounding mental health that needs to be challenged. Young people suffering
from mental illness are dismissed because they’re “teenagers.” Women are
dismissed because they’re “emotional.” Men are dismissed because it’s not
“manly.” This stigma is damaging and needs to be erased— and this can be done by talking about mental health issues.
One quarter of the population of the
UK will experience a mental illness at least one point in their lives. The
stigma that surrounds mental health causes the subject to become taboo, which
leads to people being too scared to speak out. Being trapped in your own mind
is terrifying. Having someone to talk to is vital, otherwise it leads to a
build-up of negative emotions that, one day, will just explode out of you.
Imagine a river in the rain. At first,
the water level rises slowly; nothing too drastic, but different to the usual.
The more it rains, the worse it gets. There’s a storm coming, and there is only
so much rain the river can hold. It keeps raining and raining and raining and
then— the river overflows.
That’s what
it’s like to suffer silently through mental illness. Overtime, it floods
uncontrollably out of you.
And to those
saying: “It’s all in your head.” Well, yes. It’s a mental illness. It affects
our brains and surprise surprise; our brains are in our heads. Does this make
it any less serious? No. Should it be treated as seriously as physical health?
Yes.
As author Matt Haig once said: “Mental health is physical health. Bodies
and minds interact.”
Mental illness is not infectious. It’s
not contagious. It shouldn’t be treated any differently to physical health. If
I need a sick day because my brain simply cannot cope with life that day then I
should be able to take a day off without any shame or guilt— just as I would be
able to do if I was physically unwell. By talking about mental health, we can
help to make people realise that it is, in fact, equally as important as physical
health, and is just as serious an issue.
Anxiety and
depression are both momentous in terms of how they affect people: 5.9 people in
100 suffer from anxiety and 3.3 in 100 suffer from depression, with a
horrendous number of 20.16 in 100 people experiencing suicidal thoughts. These
are the most commonly talked about and recognised mental illnesses, but there
are, of course, other mental illnesses that are hardly ever talked about that need to be talked about and understood
by more people.
Nearly as
many people suffer from PTSD as they do anxiety, with studies showing that 4.4
in 100 people are at one point affected by it. So why do we only tend to focus
on depression and anxiety? Just as many people suffer from OCD, bipolar
disorder, anorexia, BED, and so many more mental illnesses that to focus
primarily on only two issues is ignorant of us. Ignoring other mental illnesses
causes people with those issues to feel alienated within society. By talking
about a larger variety of mental health issues we can stop people from feeling
isolated. We can help more people. We can improve lives.
I know,
reading this, you may not suffer from a mental illness, but I can bet a friend,
family member, or classmate does. So show them that they aren’t alone. I don’t
mean walk up to them and yell about their struggles, but don’t alienate them for struggling. Attempt to understand
what they’re going through and try to help them.
Sometimes,
people just need someone to talk to.
Don’t get me
wrong— it’s pretty unlikely you’re going to be able to fix their life, but it’s
good to know someone is there who loves and supports you while you learn to fix
it for yourself. Everyone needs someone to believe in you. Quite simply: it’s
encouraging to know there is someone who cares and who listens.
I always
thought there was strength in staying silent. But there’s not. Yes, it’s scary
to put your thoughts out there, but it’s also so, so much stronger to speak up.
So be strong.
Speak up.
Keep the talk
about mental health alive.
By Isabel Tyldesley
By Isabel Tyldesley
