Mental Health Awareness And The Unseen Pain
Get Help NowMay is Mental Health Awareness Month, which makes this a perfect time to discuss mental health issues. Here’s a staggering fact: According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 23% of US adults experienced mental illness in 2021 and nearly 1 in 25 (10 million) adults in America live with a serious mental illness.
Mental health issues aren’t just depression and anxiety. They also include disorders like post-traumatic stress, borderline personality, or even bipolar. They’re often referred to as invisible illnesses, which can lead to much misinformation and misunderstanding.
It comes as no surprise that there has long been a problem with people understanding mental health issues. The media has depicted the struggle in many ways, one of which is cartoon strips that show physical illnesses being treated the same way people treat mental health issues. You may have seen them. One shows two people talking; one had their arm cut off at the elbow. The other person is saying, “Just suck it up, man.” Another shows somebody drowning, and his head goes underwater, and he reaches his hand up for help. Another person reaches down but, at the last moment, gives him a high five instead of grasping his hand and says, “You can do it!”
These humorous depictions can also be very poignant. They do a great job of demonstrating how unseen pain — that invisible illness — may not always be taken seriously. But mental health issues are very serious and it’s important that we raise awareness about mental health so that we can help loved ones, or learn to help ourselves.
Throughout my therapy career, I have encountered many people struggling with mental health issues. Some can recover quickly with therapeutic interventions; others require medication. Most receive the best outcomes from a combination of therapeutic interventions and medications. There are those, however, that are resistant to treatment and struggle their entire lives, requiring more invasive treatment such as Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), also commonly known as shock therapy.
Often, we tend to attribute mental health issues to some character defect. For example, somebody struggling with a major depressive episode will repeatedly need a great deal of assistance and will rarely be helpful to others in the traditional sense. Many will sleep most of the day, struggle to go to work, or do anything productive with their time. They can be seen as lazy and unmotivated. But if we learn to take a step back and try to understand this behavior, we may be able to help them.
If you think about it logically, would somebody refuse to care for themselves or possibly take their own life because they’re lazy? Put yourself in their shoes. Can you imagine refusing to care for yourself or your loved ones because you don’t feel like it? How often have you not gone to work for weeks because you just wanted to sleep for 14 hours a day? Understanding the unseen suffering of mental health issues means we are more able to spot if someone is struggling and use compassion to ensure they find the help they need.
If you or someone you love are struggling with depression or contemplating suicide, please contact us, your local mental health facility, or the emergency department, or call 988 for the free suicide hotline.