Mental Health is a touchy subject that most people just don't talk about. The stigma of having a mental illness is still there and around. The what ifs keep most people in the dark. What if my employer finds out? What if my friends find out? What if my family knows? Will people think I am a bad parent? What if, What if, What if?????????? Mental illness scares people and people with mental illness tend to keep it a secret, to them selves and suffer in silence. Sometimes so afraid that they won't even get help. Just 50% of people would tell a co-worker that they had a family member with a mental illness. Where as 72% would talk about cancer, and 68% would discuss diabetes. 46% of Canadians think people use the term mental illness as an excuse for bad behavior, and 27% are fearful of being around people who suffer from serious mental illness.(more statistics CAMH satistics )
If you don't have a mental illness try and imagine the years of feeling like you are living in a deep dark hole with no way to get out. That there is nothing for you, and the world is moving on around you but you are stuck. Sometimes the signs of mental illness are very obvious such as some people with schizophrenia. Talking to themselves out loud, they may look dirty and seem scattered. If you walk by a person like this would you look them in the eye???? Would you say hello if they said hello to you?? Or are you so afraid you just walk right on by like they are not even there? Did you know that most people with this diagnosis are harmless to others but do tend to cause more harm to themselves.
Lets look at other mental health issues you may not know it but I would put money on it that you know someone with a mental illness. If you were to find out that they had one would it change your relationship with them? Would you think they weren't a good parent all of a sudden ? If you had a friend who tried to end their life would you continue to talk to them? If they were hospitalized on a mental health ward would you visit them?
Suffering in silence can lead to suicide attempts and sadly this does take people every year. Unless you have ever been in the spot of feeling like ending it all, it is hard to understand. Let me try and explain a little
Imagine the saddest you have ever been, now imagine a time when you felt unworthy, or hopeless. Put all of those together. Imagine that there is an ache right to the core of who you are, remember earlier when I said imagine feeling like living in a deep dark hole. Now add insomnia, lack of ambition feeling like a huge burden to everyone around. Imagine seeing no light at the end of the tunnel ever. It's not long until you start to feel like people would be better off with out you, or that death may seem like the only way out.
Lots of people with mental illness can put on a pretty good show to the outside world for a while. They look happy on the outside seem to hold it together. This is exhausting and usually will end up in a crash and burn. So for those with mental illness please please get help. You don't have to suffer in silence. There is help out there and there are people who truly do understand what it feels like. I am not saying it is easy by any stretch of the imagination, Please don't give up!
For those of you with out mental illness, try not to be afraid. People with mental illness are not like what is portrayed in movies and on t.v, please try to be unafraid and understanding. Educate yourself because what some one with a mental health illness needs is friends, family and support. Not to feel more isolated, or "strange"
Links to get help
CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)
Canadian Mental Health Association
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Are you feeling suicidal now!!!
Please stop and get help call a crisis line, your family Dr., a friend or family member, go to the local hospital or call 911!!!!
Links
The Samaritans -
The Samaritans are a charity, founded in 1953, which exists to provide confidential emotional support to any person, who is suicidal or despairing.
Trained volunteers provide this service 24 hours every day. It is free. You are guaranteed absolute confidentiality and that you will not be judged. You can call, or chat with someone through email. This is a free service.
Feeling suicidal read this first!!!!!!
After reading all this would you feel differently knowing that the person who wrote it had a mental illness? Would it make you less likely to follow this blog?
I am going to end with a quote I have hanging on my wall that I try and read when things get low for me. "To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world"
Lastly seriously give someone a hug today and tell them you love them it may mean more to them then you may ever know.
Have a Blessed Day
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