Mental Illness- What it isn't
“Look after your mental health.”
“Your mental health is just as important as your physical health.”
“Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of.”
The quotes above are all things that we’re used to hearing regularly, in the media, from our family and friends, or even within our own minds. Whilst each of the above statements is absolutely true, how on earth are we meant to put these things into practice if we don’t really know what mental illness is, or where it comes from in the first place? Some of us have been through traumatic events, and as a result have developed a mental illness, others have had mental illness for as long as we can remember, for no obvious reason. Personally, I fall into the latter category. I’ve had severe anxiety issues since the day I was born, beginning with Selective Mutism (an extreme form of Social Anxiety) from the time I started to communicate as a very young child, then evolving into various other anxiety disorders as I got older. I could go on for days discussing my very colourful history with my mental health, and whilst to some people that could be helpful as a way of creating a relatable character to help them feel less isolated and alone, I think it’s far more important to look at the bigger picture. A lot of people might write a piece like this addressing the facts of mental illness, telling the reader exactly what someone struggling their mental health is going through. However, as we all know too well, the way mental illness affects someone is unique to that person, so it’s very difficult to write a factual account of mental illness that isn’t purely personal. The thing that we all have in common though, is fighting the stigma surrounding mental illness. This stigma arises when people don’t understand mental illness, or maybe have misconceptions surrounding the issue, and more often than not, don’t know how to deal with it. For that reason, rather that discussing what mental illness is, I’m going to do the opposite, and outline what it isn’t…
Mental illness is not... a choice
In the same way that a person cannot choose to have a cold or decide exactly when that stomach bug is going to strike, an individual cannot simply choose when and where mental illness will occur. Writing from a personal perspective for a little bit here, my anxiety manifests itself at times, in panic attacks. I’ve had these since the age of 12, and at one stage in my mid-teens, I had up to 60 panic attacks a night, every night, for nearly 3 years. In terms of the effects this had on my everyday life, I ended up having to re-sit a lot of my academic exams due to the lack of sleep and the general mess that I was in mentally, and I lost a lot of friends during this period, becoming increasingly more isolated and alone, which increased the level of depression I was dealing with. Realistically, which 16/17 year old would choose to go through something like that? Mental illness is NOT a choice.
Mental illness is not... a sign of weakness
A common misconception from non-sufferers and sufferers alike is that mental illness is a sign that the sufferer is weak, in every sense of the word. There’s a wonderful quote that I’ve seen regarding crying, and it basically says that crying isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s actually a sign that you’ve been strong for too long. The same applies to mental illness. Take PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder) as an example. I personally don’t have experience with this particular difficulty, but purely from an outsider’s perspective, a person generally develops PTSD after a traumatic, or particularly difficult event, or period of time. It’s a condition often associated with members of the military, so purely as an example, let’s imagine we’ve got a soldier who’s just come back from war*. This soldier would have been through experiences that most of us cannot even imagine, and would have had to have been incredibly strong, mentally and physically, to cope with the situation he/she was in. They return home after the conflict, and suddenly find themselves struggling to cope with flashbacks and nightmares, they become increasingly depressed and anxious, and isolate themselves from society. They’ve had to find an incredible inner strength, strength that most of us don’t realise we have until we’re thrust into challenging situations, for lengthy periods of time, so it’s no wonder that, when they’re back in a situation where that strength isn’t required, the effort that it took to summon it takes its toll. Knowing the incredible job they’ve done, fighting for the freedom of their country, a selfless act that we are all indebted to, who among us has the right to say that the soldier in question is weak? This is one example, but it applies to every form of mental illness. Anyone with a mental illness goes through a battle every day, which requires an inner strength to get through. The inner strength that we have to find takes an awful lot of effort and energy to summon, and it will take its toll at times, which is when we might experience a decline in our mental health. The battle that we fight against mental illness is just as real to us as the conflict was to the soldier, and if we regard the soldier as incredibly courageous and brave, then why do we feel any different about ourselves, or those around us who are struggling with their mental health? Just because we haven’t all been to a physical war-zone, whilst battling mental illness, we live in one metaphorically, and fight every day. Mental illness is NOT a sign of weakness.
*(To read the story of someone who has been in the army themselves, CLICK HERE)
Mental illness is not... fashionable
It’s becoming increasingly easier to talk about mental illness on a public scale, which is absolutely fantastic. There’s still a stigma, we all know that and are fighting it, but in general, we’re in a much better place now in terms of acceptance and treatments than we were 50 years ago. Progress is definitely being made, and hopefully will continue to be made at a rapid rate. However, it seems that some higher profile companies are using mental illness to increase their profits, often glorifying certain mental illnesses, making them seem far more glamorous than the reality actually is. Slogan t-shirts, Instagram accounts, and even jewellery, have been seen to bear logos/posts relating to mental illness, albeit maybe without realising the consequences of their words. I’ve seen the word “psycho” used on multiple t-shirts/jumpers and, although I’m sure many people just take this at surface level and don’t look any deeper at the meaning of the word, it still inadvertently glamorises mental illness. Would you be proud to walk around in a t-shirt glorifying being a “psycho”, even without applying it to any mental illness in particular? I certainly wouldn’t. Mental illness is not something that is trendy one season and disappears off the shelves the next. It’s a continuous reality for many people, it’s not a fashion accessory that makes us look ‘cool’ for a while. When the ‘trend’ of mental illness dies down, it’s not something we can just take off and shove in the back of the wardrobe until it’s back in season again. Mental illness is NOT fashionable.
Having said all of that about what mental illness isn’t (and I’m sure there are many more points we could make here!), there is one thing that mental illness IS that I think we can all agree on…
Mental illness is... hard
There’s really not much expansion to do on this particular point! Mental illness is incredibly difficult to deal/live with, and even harder to overcome. Luckily for us, we live in a world that is becoming more and more accepting, and medical research into mental illness is increasing, so hopefully more people can be supported and treated in the correct way. There’s no denying mental illness is very hard to handle, but with a good support structure, and a great deal of inner strength, it’s not a life sentence, it can even be used for something positive that could benefit others, which is what I’m aiming to do.
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