One of the biggest problems when it comes to detecting mental health issues, and then treating them, is explaining the diagnosis to family, friends, and acquaintances. It is a laborious and draining process. Not only does one have to cope with the mental illness itself, but also teach opinionated uncles and aunties how it works, and why you’re not just being dramatic or lazy.
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So, we need to talk about taking mental illnesses seriously and doing our part in educating ourselves about it, instead of asking people suffering to spoon-feed us the information. Our lack of acceptance, and the fact that society neglects making an effort to understand mental illnesses, contributes to the poor mental health and even death of so many. This calls for action.
The onus of removing the stigma attached to mental health should not fall on those who have mental health issues
Most of the time, people have to explain how mental disorders work to others in order to de-stigmatise them, lest there be misconceptions that lead to biases. But, why should someone who suffers from the ailment have to expend their energy on teaching the wilfully ignorant?
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If you have a relative, a friend, or a romantic partner who suffers from any kind of mental health problem, you shouldn’t be asking them to explain it to you. Talking about things which aren’t exactly the most fun parts of life, is not something anyone with depression or anxiety enjoys. Re-living dark phases, explaining what all can go wrong, is very emotionally taxing.
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Google has resources people can educate themselves with. So why can’t people use it?
There are a lot of reliable medical journals one can refer to if they want to learn about psychology. There are certified psychiatrists and therapists on Twitter and Instagram one can follow to learn more. If someone really wants to educate themselves, there are loads of resources available online. The issue is, people choose not to, because the prevalent idea is that mental health is something you can control at will, and that the lack of tangible, physical symptoms (which, by the way, are also there, should someone bother to read), means it’s not real. This leads us to our next point.
You know you’re going to get a headache when someone says “But beta, don’t worry, be happy!”
The most important thing about any mental health problem is that it is related to the chemicals in our body. It’s linked to our nervous system, our brain. If there is an imbalance, we don’t function the way we would “normally.” Now, brains aren’t an organ we have control over in that regard. We can’t just make it secrete a hormone that it doesn’t. But going by the ignorance of those who think “Don’t worry, be happy” is a good approach, you’d think we could.
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This is why it’s so annoying and frustrating to explain the same thing to a hundred different people over and over. These aren’t facts we are unaware of. Deepika Padukone has done countless interviews explaining depression to millions of people in this country. There are still some who choose to neglect what science has to say, and continue to have views which are setting back progress in the field of diagnosing and treating mental illnesses. So why should one waste time on explaining this? Why let this take up headspace when I am already suffering enough without having to justify why my brain works the way it does, to people who are committed to misunderstanding it?
Lead image credits: Live Love Laugh Foundation
