MENTAL HEALTH

 

The topic today is mental health and I choose this because of a friend close to me who struggles with social anxiety, OCD, and bipolar depression. She has said at times that her mental health is often overlooked; her co-workers act as if it’s not a serious issue and constantly make fun of or criticize her about it. This gets me thinking that the world doesn’t necessarily take this issue seriously, but what they don’t realize is that mental health is a vital part of who a person is and it’s basically the foundation of human civilization without the right headspace we would not have been able to build cars, buildings and do our everyday jobs. I have seen so many videos on social media of kids getting bullied and taking their lives or adults who drag their pain from previous traumatic experiences everywhere they go until they eventually have a breakdown one day wondering where their life went wrong. This is in some cases would be known as a mid-life crisis. So you see Mental health affects everyone not just a certain group or a few people but everyone as a whole because whether you think you are fine or not there is always someone out there who needs you and we as a society have got to acknowledge that. Apparently “one in five Americans will experience a mental illness in a given year.” This valuable information can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm which has a lot of information about mental health there and this ranges from the causes of mental health to the treatment given should a person have mental health issues. One of the ways that could help would be multiple visits to a psychiatrist however I felt the current website up above didn’t exactly do well providing enough info in the treatment department so I would like to share a different website called https://www.mhanational.org/mental-health-treatments which I believe fully gives different methods of help they have to offer, I noticed one main thing though between these two websites and that is that they both offer psychotherapy as a solution to mental health and I would have to agree that the #1 solution for mental health is talking about it and just having someone to listen to your story really helps the soul heal. This strategy has even been used by some famous celebrities today like Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and Halsey but of course, they sometimes explore this technique through singing instead but overall it works. Although that’s not all they provide they also have different local services near you that could aid anyone in whatever they need help with so no one has to go to one specific location. Plus, they also have phone services so if you don’t feel comfortable leaving your house during this difficult time, there are tons of options you just have to take your pick, you can learn more if you need to in the above websites. Some of the things I value most are self-accountability, respect, and courage these are not just things I value in general but also in a person including myself. I love someone who knows their mistakes and owns up to them. They don’t try to cover it up, but rather come clean to explain this can be very hard for people to do, especially if they feel like they will get criticized for it. However, I think what should matter most to a person and definitely matters most to me is not caring about others’ opinions because, in the end, you’re doing this for you not them. Now moving to my next topic, respect is absolutely something I think everyone should have no matter who the person is. I am a firm believer in treating others the way you want to be treated so if I see anyone being mistreated unfairly, I find it incredibly rude and disgusting which is something I cannot stand for at all. Finally, last but not least courage is a trait that not everyone has so when I see someone who has the courage to stick up for others and does what’s right I am in complete awe. I myself have kind of struggled with having the courage to stick up for myself in the past but I learned that you can’t help others if you can’t help yourself and I used that phrase to guide me into becoming the courageous person I am today so yeah courage is 100% one of my top values. I plan to contact several businesses, schools, and all kinds of different organizations to make sure they are fully aware of mental health and how important it is. Do they have any staff, customers, or students who are dealing with mental health issues? Are they taking the necessary adjustments for these people? Do they talk to them and make sure their setup is in a comfortable environment? These are things I need to know, however I know I cannot do this on my own, so I will also be sharing this task with a group of close friends, together we will not only call these establishments but if we can and talk to them directly face to face. Another thing we plan to do is let our neighborhoods know about mental health as well and we would actually like to set up a virtual chat group amongst ourselves just to check-in and see how everyone’s doing and learn more so we all can better enter this new era a whole lot more accepting and taking accountability for one another. Mental health is a lot more than what people would prefer to realize it impacts so many on a daily basis and we don’t pay enough attention to it. We need to reach out to our fellow friends and family, those known and unknown, talk to them, figure out where their headspace is at and provide a supporting hand through whatever difficult times they are facing. This may very well save thousands of lives because we cannot be silent any longer at some point we have to stand up and recognize the cries for help. I plan on doing my part to become a better ally against this but still, that’s not enough. So once again. I encourage everyone no matter what you’ve done or what you believe, stand up with me so you too can become better allies against this hidden disease.