Mental Health

[2SidestoStories]

Hi everyone! I've posted some of my story on the "Breaking Up and Coping" section of the forums, if you are at all interested in some of where I am coming from.

 

I'm not entirely sure where to begin on my soapbox tirade, and don't know whether I am actually in a place to be standing on the soapbox, but I feel very strongly about the subject, especially now.

 

Mental Health is something that a lot of folks have been turning their nose up at for years and years, unless something horrific has happened. Take for example all of the tales of molestation by Catholic Priests that have been surfacing more and more of late. Also think for a few moments about all of the folks on the streets, even in your own hometown. Surely everyone here has somehow been affected by another individual who has been going through some Mental Health issue or another, even if it was just a homeless person plodding along the side of the road yelling at invisible monsters.

 

I'm not asking for a miracle. I am, however, inclined to note that several people who have posted on the boards here have indicated that they have "issues" of sorts varying from control issues (both sides of that coin, mind you) to suicidal tendencies, to abusive behavior, and so forth. For some folks, the stigma associated with "therapy" is so great that they refuse to seek any sort of counseling. Or perhaps it is the expense of speaking to a licenced psychotherapist. Either way, what I am trying to get at is that a lot of people here have been hurt, or are hurting others, and that there ARE ways of getting help for all of these destructive tendencies that are often causes of relationships disintegrating.

 

Check with your local libraries and churches for support groups if money is an issue. Check in your newspapers for listings of the same sort. Look in the phone book or online. The message I am trying to convey is that help may be as short as a phone call away. GET HELP. We are human beings, not creatures made of steel nor rubber; the experiences we have put a stamp upon us for the rest of our lives, even if we are not conscious of it. A good point to remember is that AS human beings, we deserve the help we seek. For those of us who have been hurt, which means everyone who is here no doubt, the ramifications of not getting help of some sort are intense as well: consider the statistics of abused children; nearly every child who has been abused will grow up to abuse others. Consider, too what it may mean for you to take the steps and reach out to a counselor, priest, minister, support group, friend, or relative: imagine being able to finally heal and live a life worth living.

 

Do not put off "getting help." If you have ever had the inclination to get help, find a way. If you do not feel strong enough, reach out to a friend or family member to help give you the push you need to get help. Do not wait any longer. Do not let yourself continue to live in fear and pain, and DO NOT believe that another individual human being who loves you and is willing to be with you is THE answer. Chances are, you will drive them away, or they will drive you away.

[Tony T]

A good and worthy message. To it I would add that it's unfortunate that there are not more sources for quality mental health care. Government agencies are swamped and often staffed with a great number of incompetent and uncaring...yet degreed...people.

 

There is help available as you said. Some excellent sources for young people are school counsellors and for others the mental health or psychology departments of local colleges and universities.

 

Since the greatest number of physical problems are psychological in origin, your post makes even more sense and the urgency of obtaining help extremely important.

[my_mother's_daughter]

Mich Auch!!!

 

As a former mental health worker, I have to say that not enough emphasis is placed on the importance of mental health. Where I come from a big drive was initiated to convey the facts about mental health and the likelikood of its occurence within your own family (the statistics speak for themselves: an estimated 1 in 10 mental health sufferers, with around 1 in 20 suffering a severe clinical illness such as chronic depression, and around 4 in every 1000 people suffering from a psychotic illness)

 

(Mental Health statistics Factsheets 2003. © the Mental Health Foundation. Registered Charity No: 801130 [uk])

 

We can't continue to ignore the importance of mental health care. About time someone raised this issue.

 

Good for you.

[moimeme]

Worst of all is the pervasive theory (bred from ancient medicine and philosophy) that 'mental health' is all about faulty thinking.

Dr. Phil offends in this area. The facts, backed up by heaps of science, are that many (and probably all) mental health issues have or are related to biological problems.

 

Before medicine was a science, the mind was considered to be separate from, and superior to, the body. Any ailment of the mind had nothing to do with the body. But this is today and we should understand that the brain is just another organ that can have problems. The symptoms of an ailing brain are seen in troubled thoughts since what the brain does, among other things, is produce thought.

 

Because the role of the physical brain in mental illness is still so poorly understood by the general public, we have people telling depressed people that they should 'smarten up' when there is no way a depressed person can do so without some sort of help.

(If the shoe fits....).

 

UNTIL people get it through their heads that having a mental illness is no more shameful than having a broken leg, they will fear and be ashamed of getting help.

 

I hope every single person who reads this will change their thinking. Go read up about the brain and its functions and what can go wrong. Become educated and help remove the stigma of 'mental health' which, IMHO, should now be called 'brain health'.

 

Yes, sometimes counselling helps when people need help with a different perspective and yes, the brain plasticity theory is interesting, but bottom line is that in many, many cases, more than just counselling may be needed because the brain is actually ill.