In Advocating for Mental Health, You Advocate for Yourself
It breaks my heart to hear and see so much shame and stigma surrounding mental health. How can we be quiet when it affects every other aspect of our lives? I can admit I've even stimatized myself, and this is what stunted my urge to seek help in the first place. So, my own advocacy work in all areas of mental health has helped me find the language to discuss my own in a neutral way. I also have the luxury of being almost utterly indifferent toward the response. I'm sharing this because I know I am far from alone, and while the silence is growing quieter, there are still a thousand more voices to be heard.
What stops you from sharing? What are your fears? What do your hopes of change consist of regarding your friends and loved ones?
I am quite outspoken on the topic because it's the only way I know how to heal. Education and communication have allowed a better outcome in conversation, although there are- and always will be -individuals who can't or won't learn about these things and the holes they leave in our lives. My fears are being trivialized and/or rejected in place of faith or arrogance. My hope for change consists of simply getting through why treatment is important, therapy is beneficial to EVERYONE for various reasons, and that it isn't an experience you can simply will toward wellness, or even articulate clearly. Nevermind the anti-psychiatry movement.
Please share. ♡
@blitheSun94
Oh goodness, I could go on and on about this. Though I can be outspoken with those close to me, advocating for myself was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Being sent home from the hospital three times when I was in crisis, only to find that they finally gave me a referral was devastating. It was like no one took me seriously, at all, and I had to fight to get them to get me to treatment. I was very sick at this time, and it was devastating later to realize how many hours I had to spend in a hospital waiting room just to be able to get something out of them.
But back to your original point about friends and family. I share with some, I don't share with others. I have the disadvantage of the fact that I am going into a very dog-eat-dog profession, and where mental illness can and possibly will be used against me. It's not fair, I agree with that, but it's the reality of professions where everyone wants to climb up. My therapist himself as advised me to be careful who I tell.
My very close loved ones know, but I find it odd how very few ask about what my experience is like. I definitely don't want to push it, but I wonder why - are they afraid? do they feel it is just too much? are they worried that they will be pushing me?
So many questions, feelings, and tumultuous times but I am so happy that the people who are close to me know at least a little, and that my parents finally stepped up and did the research on my illness.
Thank you for posting.
All my love,
Lee.
@Lee
Thank you for putting so much heart into your response. The real kicker for me is that I work in the field of mental health, and yet I still feel cautious in informing my peers and supervisors. It seems strange, to me, in a crowd that would be more likely than most to grasp it. I'm both therapist and patient. My humility comes from the pain and compassion that is my own, and what drove me into the field in the first place. My first psychiatrist as an adult said, "Let me tell you something. Right now you need to be the patient. Don't try to figure it all out on your own, because you wont." Therein lies the paradox of suffering and the importance objectivity.
I get it.
Be well. ♡♡♡
A big *bump*
We haven't addressed stigma surrounding BD and other mental illnesses for awhile.
Any new perspectives anyone would like to share?