Image from Google
Mental health?
What does it mean? It's a combination of the physiological and emotional well being of a person. The statistics ? At least 1 out of 4 people will suffer from a mental health related issue and in the UK most of them to this day are mainly female.
But for this blog post I want to talk about one mental health illness in particular and that is depression. There are three types of depression; seasonal affective disorder- which can be brought on by the change of seasons and the change in days. Postnatal depression-commonly mothers who are suffering 'baby blues' straight after the birth of their baby and can be much more serious as this type of depression can last for years. The last type of depression is Bipolar or 'manic depression' which can cause serious mood swings or they can suffer from a state of mania (high execitment).
Depression is not like a wound that can be seen physically in some cases but it's an invisible illness, the human eye can not see it so its something that without the person telling you they suffer from it you might not be able to tell.
Depression isn't talked about which I mean who would want to talk about something that in turn makes you feel like crap.
I want to make talk about this to try and curve the stigma around depression and share my own personal opinions.
From a young age I went through some traumatic issues which led me down the road of counselling also known as 'talking therapies '. From my own experience this was a temporary way of coping with my issues and my emotions. As I was still a child this was given to me over a course of a few months and was available to me via the NHS.
The stigma around depression is that people who have it are 'crazy' or 'weird' and 'weak'; people who don't fit in but that is far from the truth. Everyone has different experiences and have grown up in different environments which can contribute to suffering from a mental health illness.
Most times I've researched this subject and have found that most people are scared to admit they have depression and tend to leave it until they are quite older to tackle it. Some people though can not cope with the changes holistically and a lot tend to commit suicide. This is very sad but it's the truth and there is not a lot of help out there and with the recent NHS cuts there will be fewer places to go to if you are in need of help.
So what's my point?
My point is that you shouldn't assume someone isn't suffering from an illness just because you can not see it. When people are diagnosed with illnesses such as Cancer everyone comes together and wants to be there for the sufferer, so why should it be any different for people with depression or any other mental health issue. Back in the days before I was born and for many years prior people with mental health issues were locked away and institutionalised; labelled as 'mad'. So in some ways the people of the past in charge of these institutes are the ones to blame for the stigma. I hope that the 21st century can knock this stereotype down.
So I challenge you as a reader to be better and talk freely about this topic without feeling 'weird' about the topic. Its amazing what you can learn if you jut open your eyes abit more.
Want to know more? heres some useful sites;
Mind.org
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
many thanks for reading
Hannah
No comments:
Post a Comment