What Do You Wish People Knew About Your Mental Health
What Do You Wish People Knew About Your Mental Health
Living with mental health challenges sadly often means dealing with misconceptions or feeling misunderstood.
If you could tell others just one thing about your experience, what would it be?
Maybe it’s something people get wrong.
Maybe it’s something they never ask.
Maybe it’s what you wish someone had said to you or perhaps something else!
Please share below if you feel comfortable to do so. I look forward to reading your contributions and discussing such an important topic. 🌻
I worked hard to get my mental health to where it is today.
@eternalHero77
And this takes sheer strength, grit and courage! I am so proud of you and I hope you are too. :)
@LisaMeighanMScGMBPsS
sometimes i wish they knew that everyday will always be a struggle and that my suicidal thoughts will never fully go away even if Im smiling I still have darkness in my head with my mental health I will never fully be okay not even in 10 years from now I can be ''here'' or ''okay'' but I've felt the dark and that darkness will always be apart of me
@LisaMeighanMScGMBPsS I get terrible separation anxiety that makes life nearly unbearable sometimes
@genericbeing
Separation anxiety must be really challenging for you to experience and I hope you're able to share how you feel with those trusted around you.
@LisaMeighanMScGMBPsS I can a little, some don't want to hear about it, it seems to upset them
Although I’ve healed greatly and c’n not handle many things mentally don’t keepprovoking me I have PTSD and if I ask Ya to stop provoking please listen. I can’t get triggers from my past. I’vehard in myself and’ I let ‘da past go but when triggered those things resurface an can’t takea few weeks to put then back where dey belongs. IN da PAST.
@LisaMeighanMScGMBPsS
Something I wish people knew about my mental health (although not really) is that I can't remember the last time that I was truly okay. It's always just been varying degrees of depression and anxiety. I can remember the exact day, my 5th grade graduation ceremony and I just sat there feeling absolutely nothing, and I was wondering why I wasn't feeling excited or proud of myself since that was a big deal at the time. Ever since then any sort of holidays or events just never felt the same, nothing really excites me like it used to, I can't laugh like I used to, I can't feel as much as I used to. I did go through a lot growing up where I learned that hiding my emotions was the best thing I could do, and now I'm just working on finding people that really support me and I can feel more comfortable being more vulnerable with, I want to experience and feel so much more and I'm quite young so I know i'll get there, but man it hasn't been easy, especially putting on a fake smile the entire time. It's draining and I can tell I'm losing my ability to mask it and others around me can tell too. I want to be better for them and not be a burden on them because I'm struggling to be happy
@deepeny
Thank you for sharing something so personal and honest. Your words carry the kind of quiet strength that often goes unnoticed. You captured something many people feel but rarely say aloud: that depression isn't always a dramatic crash; sometimes, it's a lifelong numbness, a quiet dulling of the colours and moments that are supposed to feel vibrant.
The memory from your 5th grade graduation stands out because it marked the beginning of your awareness that something felt off. That moment of emptiness, when you were supposed to feel proud or excited, is something that many with long-term depression know all too well. It's painful to remember when you stopped feeling like yourself, when joy started to feel like a foreign language.
And yet, despite everything the years of hiding, the emotional suppression, the effort of wearing a mask every day, you’re still here. You're still trying. You're reaching out. You're reflecting. You're doing the difficult work of letting yourself be seen, even just a little.
That longing to feel more, laugh more, connect more, it's real. It speaks to your resilience. You want something better, not just to survive, but to feel alive. And that desire is powerful. Healing is not about returning to a version of yourself you used to be; it's about discovering the version of yourself that is free to feel again.
You're right, you're young, and there's time. But you don’t have to carry this alone, or pretend anymore. You don’t have to be "better" for others, or hide the parts of you that are struggling just to be accepted. The right people won’t see you as a burden and they’ll see you as human! Just like we do here at 7 Cups.
@LisaMeighanMScGMBPsS I wish people around me knew that there isn't a switch that I can just flip on/off with my PTSD, Depression and anxiety. The things that happened to me in the past and recently, have all contributed to my mental health issues. I'm not crazy. My emotions and feelings are valid. I wish they could feel what I go through when my anxiety and/or panic attacks start. Maybe then they would take it more seriously. These things are real. What happened was real and I just want to be heard for once.
@HopefulOne81
Thank you for expressing this with such raw honesty. What you've written speaks volumes not just about your pain, but also about your strength in continuing to speak up, even when it feels like others don’t listen or understand.
You are absolutely right: there is no switch. PTSD, depression, and anxiety don’t follow a schedule. They don’t disappear just because someone else thinks they should. What you’re carrying is heavy, and it has history your past and recent experiences matter. They shaped your world, and they continue to shape how you move through it.
You are responding to things that happened to you, things that were real and valid and left a mark. That emotional impact doesn't make you weak, it makes you human. And your desire to be understood and to just be heard is not too much to ask.
As you wrote here if I’m smiling or looking good from the outside doesn’t mean I am perfectly fine from the inside. I am having a depression and sadness which I can’t express. People around me have no idea how bad I do feel because I keep on pretending that I am okay. One of the people knew that i am suffering from depression then he was like i feel bad that you are sad and you are always on low mood. I couldn't tell that person that it wasn’t about you or how you are feeling it is about me whom i cant help but feel in this way. But all what i said to him was okay I’ll keep on pretending then.
That even though I wanted everything else to be perfect ..I realised zi had lot of imperfections which doesn't always need to be changed or fixed but needs to be accepted by others and treated if it goes beyond the boundaries
That although sometimes I might appear nervous or upset, it is because of my anxiety disorder and I am really a compassionate, funny person.
@LisaMeighanMScGMBPsSI am crying alone because i don't want my wife and kids to think i am weak when all i have shown them is how strong i am. i can't even type this, i'm cryi
@quietAvocado6366
I hope you don't mind me answering.
Wish I wish that I could hold you right now so that you can let go. You seem to carry a heavy burden and feel the pain of it. I understand that you want to be a strong anchor for your family, but nobody can always carry the weights of life alone, we all need help, need to talk. I'm sure your family will understand and support you and know there are always people here too for comfort and support! You are not alone! 💙
@LisaMeighanMScGMBPsS Not to assume the symptoms you see that is signs of mental illness is actually symptoms of mentAl illness but rather symptoms of another type of illness that also affects the brain. Let me explain. I was in the psychiatrists office one day and he it was not one of my good days and he started asking me questions in as far as if I recognized my thoughts were not in order. As we continued talking it was clear something was happening. I suddenly told him the things he was seeing that I had it my entire life which is epilepsy. I at that point told him I would get evidence for him to show him proof—actual proof that those symptoms he was seeing was in fact epillesy related. Later showing him the needed proof and having some anger in me over what had taken place I asked him if pychiatrists are aware there is an underlining problem why do they automatically sdiagnosing the patient to try to see whether part ofr all of the issues is a mental illness or a physical illness. His response for me was shocking as he said because not only are they not trained to do all of that but do not have the resources to test those type of things.
