Mental Awareness or Acceptance? Why not both?
It’s May. That means suddenly everyone cares about mental health. After all, it’s Mental Health Awareness Month.
Don’t get me wrong. Awareness is great. Please, talk about it, write about it, post, research, and learn about mental health. But can we do the same during, say, August? Or maybe the other 11 months? How about we take it a step further, and say we even GASP accept mental health is real and needs to be addressed. Mental health is more than just suicide, but we will address that too, in September for Suicide Awareness Month (really, give me a minute and we will touch on it).
Mental health is the young mother who is wondering what is wrong with her because she is feeling overwhelmed and worried all the time. It is not the hormones, trust me.
It is the teenager who desperately wants to fit in and wonders why they feel different, why they aren’t good enough, popular enough, or just a waste of space. Ahh, teenage angst? No, it’s not.
It’s the young person who feels fat because they don’t look like the models and develops an unhealthy attitude about food. We are all different shapes and sizes-airbrush that!
It’s the young person who cuts themselves because the feelings are just too big to process. It is the parent who has done a suicide assessment every single day since their child was 10 (they’re now 20) because they are terrified.
It’s the elderly in a nursing home or at home, who do not have visitors, who feel forgotten, alone, and unwanted.
It is the soldier and veteran who have seen and done what no one should ever have to experience. It is the first responders who have experienced everyone else’s trauma for the umpteenth time; sorting through the broken bodies, broken spirits, burned homes, and horrific scenes that would have most people upchucking their breakfast and lunch, and developing a serious need for adult beverages.
Now let’s talk a little about that suicide topic (I warned you we would come back to it).
First, we are changing the narrative. NO ONE COMMITS SUICIDE. It is not a crime; it’s a cry for help. Just a few thoughts here: men complete the act of suicide more than women, but women attempt the act of suicide more than men. Why? Well, it’s because women are more apt to use poison or drug overdose as a way to attempt suicide. These methods are not immediately fatal and allow for intervention. Men are more apt to use more immediately fatal methods, such as hanging or a gun.
When it comes to the numbers, there is a very important one to remember if you are feeling like ending it all is the only way out: 988 is the National Suicide Hotline. Talk to someone, please.
And IF you think someone is thinking of suicide, don’t be gentle about asking about it. Be direct. Be blunt. Ask the hard question. This is not the time to tiptoe around the topic.
One last example of someone who struggles with mental health issues: It’s me.
The person who was emotionally abused as a child and adolescent. Who battles anxiety every single day, starting with a mandatory "You can do this" before even getting out of bed. The person with an almost obsessive need (I checked, it’s not OCD) to control my entire day with four color-coded calendars. It is the overwhelming sense that I have to be responsible for everything, and a pathological need to control all the decisions in my life. It is exhausting, overwhelming, and there are days when I stand in my closet and actively struggle to choose socks.
So, Happy Mental Health Awareness Month. Better yet, let’s make it Mental Health Acceptance Year.
Mistie
Therapist, mom, barely holding it together some days.
