Today is World Mental Health Day. So, there is no better time to discuss mental health. Also remembering our mental health is just as vital as our physical health.
Lockdown really ramped up the severity of bad mental health and the awful consequences that can occur. This is why I want to share this post on World Mental Health Day and continue the healthy conversation. I want to se my platform to bring awareness and get people talking about the different conditions and the stigmas.
Bad mental health can touch everyone. Whether that is by personal experience or you know a loved one has experienced ill mental health. This is unquestionably vital for everyone to learn how they can help to reduce the stigma. You can learn about the different mental health conditions and how you can help loved ones who experience mental health.
Here are 7 things that you can do to help end the stigma surrounding mental health:
1. Educate yourself and others
Knowledge is power and can really help to end the stigma surrounding mental health. Therefore, you should educate yourself from good sources about mental illnesses, the symptoms and the treatments that are available. Furthermore, you should educate others that mental illness is a physical disorder. It is no different than a broken leg.
Additionally, as a parent or a carer it is really important that you educate your children about mental health. Without a doubt they need to know what mental health is and why it is important to look after.
I recently have gained a qualification in understanding children and young people’s mental health. Subsequently, this really opened my eyes to a lot of the mental health conditions, symptoms and what treatments are available. Not only that but the statistics surrounding children and young people’s mental health in the UK are seriously shocking. Another reason why more education and support regarding mental health is needed in schools, at home and the workplace.
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2. Share your own experience regarding mental health
No one should ever be put in a situation where they feel pressured or embarrassed about sharing their personal experience. However, if you do, it can be hugely beneficial for both yourself and others. Sharing your story can incredibly powerful. In addition can provide comfort and allow people to feel less alone when they can relate to another person’s experience.
Again, if you do share it can actually inspire other people to share their experiences, which can be hugely empowering! When you share your story on social media it helps to spread a positive message. Such as you are not alone and you can work through this! Social media has been know to feed into ill mental health. So, we should all flood social media with truth, honesty and relatable experiences that will help and benefit others.
I have had people who have read my blog and thanked me because posts have really helped them to feel less alone. For me, that is so positive and more people practising this could comfort others and surely save some people’s lives.
3. Be aware of the language that you use
You should be aware of the language that you use for example ‘I have bipolar’ rather than ‘I’m bipolar’. This is the same when you are describing others ‘he’s bipolar’ ‘she’s depressed’. People are people, they are not their diagnoses. You are not your mental health condition, it is just something that you live with. Nobody is an illness. We all have multiple facets of ourselves, mental illness is only a small part of a person and we are not defined by only one aspect of ourselves.
It is important to be kind to yourself or others when discussing mental health. To fight against the stigma reminding people of the language matters. It is so easy to refrain from using mental health conditions as adjectives.
4. Be a safe space for others
You don’t need to be a qualified professional to help others. You can give someone the gift of feeling seen and heard. It is important to try and talk less and listen more. This allows the person to share as much as they feel comfortable doing. You have the ability to create a safe space for others who might be suffering from a mental health challenge.
5. Do not contribute to mental health stigmas
Breaking down mental health stigmas and stereotypes starts with yourself. You need to avoid contributing to the stigma by staying mindful of how you discuss mental health. It is possible that a person’s recovery or progress can be negatively impacted by you feeding into the stigmas or the stereotypes. Instead be a source of encouragement and support.
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6. Encourage equality between physical and mental illness
Unfortunately, many people who physically can not see or feel the cause of a mental health illness, do not regard it as a real problem.
There are so many mental illnesses that can be just as serious and life-threatening (sometimes even more so) than physical diseases. However, society does not view it in the same light. It is important that whenever you can, you should do your best to remind yourself and others that mental health disorders are real and should be acknowledged as so.
7. Show compassion
Whether you have first-hand experience with mental illness or not, you should always be willing to show empathy and compassion to those who do. Meet them with kindness. Greeting someone with a calm, friendly and non-judgemental voice can actually help a person who is struggling with depression or anxiety for example.
If you are reading this and you are struggling with your mental health it is important to reach out. Reaching out to a loved one, your doctor or a trusted adult can help you to get the support and treatment you need.
It is so disappointing that we are still having to fight against the stigma and the negative stereotypes regarding mental health. But that’s why I want to write about how we can all do our part to eradicate these negative connotations. Let’s all ensure mental health is discussed regularly.
What do you do to help fight the stigma? Have you ever had a negative experience because of the stigma or a stereotype? I’d love to hear in the comments.
The disparity between physical and mental health in this country is appalling. I’m glad mental health is discussed more openly but we need services to match
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Excellent pointers. Mental illness still isn’t taken as seriously as physical illness sadly but I think we’re getting there – slowly. Awareness days are great but we need to keep the conversations going all year round for sure, otherwise the stigmas will just keep arising over and over again xxx
Absolutely. Thank you for reading and commenting.
This is such a good post, Lauren! I really like your point about how we talk about ourselves and our mental conditions. It’s so much more empowering to say ‘I’m feeling anxious” (which is a temporary feeling and emotion that comes and goes) rather than making a diagnosis part of our identity. Because once we’ve personalized it and it’s hard to get past it because who would we be without it? I wish there was less mental health stigma, especially with men I think. I’ve seen so many men who have severe depression not be able to reach out for help. Sadly, many from my Gen X generation weren’t really taught how to handle our emotions just to be tough and resilient. These men often turn to substance abuse, reckless behavior or worse. Such an important topic thanks for this post.
I am glad you have found it really helpful. There is still a long way to go, but ensuring we all do our part can help. Thank you for reading and commenting. X
A second this. I wish men would encourage other men to open up their feelings and tell each other that it is okay to cry. I also wish men would tell each other and it’s okay to pursue a career or Hobby that they want regardless of traditional gender roles. I agree with you 100%
Great ideas, I’m working on being someone’s safe place and will do the rest of these things. Thank you for sharing!
That’s great! Thank you for reading and commenting.
These are all great pointers. I’m very conscious of how my language and actions can affect my daughter’s perception of different topics, MH and expressing emotions being one of them. I’m very open and honest with her as this is what I would want from her too. Great post as always. This will help so many people I’m sure. X
That is great because you are teaching your daughter some valuable lessons. Thank you for reading and commenting.
And it is all true that things will all help! Thank you for this ❤️
Thank you for reading and commenting.
I love this post so much! So many of my friends have experienced major mental health issues as well as myself – maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to share my story. I think educating people is so important, my parents didn’t speak about mental health much growing up and I wish it had been spoken about more openly! Thank you so much for sharing such an important piece x
There is no rush and you don’t need to share your story at all if you don’t feel comfortable. That is personal choice. But even admitting you have had a problem with your mental health helps others feel less alone. Thank you for reading and commenting. X
Amazing ideas to fight the mental health stigma, I share my story when I need to in order to raise awareness. I always feel to make others feel less alone. It’s so sad and baffling that there is still a stigma surrounding mental health x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Thank you for reading and commenting. It is great you feel comfortable to be able to share your story. X
Great points. I try and be as open and honest as I can about my own mental health, and also help to break the stigma. Something must improve in the UK and I am hoping it does soon!
It is definitely a work in progress. Thank you for reading and commenting.
I’ll always speak openly about my mental health and what I went through/is going through with anxiety or depression. No shame in sharing and advocating for awareness.
As I know my patterns, I also mainly keep watch on my friends, one in particularly I’ll lookout for and give advice from the non-fictions that I’ve read about that and what personally helped me.
Thank you for this post, lovely pointers! xx
It is great you feel comfortable to share your story. That is great you look out for your friends. Keep up the good work! Thank you for reading and commenting.
It’s great that we have a world mental health day. It prompts us to open up and talk about mental health, as you have done in this post and to share some ideas surrounding it with those who have little experience of such things xxx
I am glad you found this post helpful. Thank you for reading and commenting. Xxx
All great tips for reducing mental health stigma. I’ve worked on an art project to tackle the stigma around psychosis recently for this very reason
That’s amazing! It is great to hear of things others are doing to help. Thank you for reading and commenting.
These are all great points and I completely agree that there should be equality between physical and mental illness, and hopefully we’ll get there soon. Also, that’s a good point to be aware of what language you use because so often people describe others as their illness when there is so much more to them than that.
Definitely! Thank you for reading and commenting Karalee.
Over the decades, I’ve seen that the conversation around mental health has generally improved and the fight to end stigma is way better than it was; but there is so much more to be done and this post is really helpful with that. Mental health should absolutely be on equal footing with physical health and I hope we move further towards that in time.
Thank you for reading and commenting. I am glad you enjoyed this post.
Being compassionate and watching the way you speak about mental illness in general are so important. It’s incredibly harmful when people use words like “crazy” to describe someone with a mental health issue.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Thank you so much for sharing this. We’re trying to help end the stigma. Treating people with respect is one aspect, as well as normalizing mental health care.
It is so important. Thank you for reading and commenting. X
This is all so important. It blows my mind that there is still such a large gap between the treatment of mental and physical illness. I hope that we can see a day sometime soon where society starts to truly accept the similarities between the two!
So glad you enjoyed the post. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Showing compassion is so so important! I try my hardest to be kind always, and to open the conversation on mental health x
That’s great! Thank you for reading and commenting Caroline. X
Such a wonderful message for world mental health day! Or should I say messages!? Theses are all very important ways we can help fight back against the stigma of mental health. I think some of the hardest things to break will be language used and improving education without judgement.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Thank you so much for sharing this. We like how books are used to talk about mental health, which is one way to help end the stigma. Reading fiction usually builds empathy so it’s a good way to educate people.
Thank you for reading and commenting. That’s great!
While I’ve had to get over the stigma myself, I’m over it to a great extent (when comparing with where I was). I stared a blog primarily because a) It’ll help me when I write and b)It’ll help others who are going through similar stuff. However, I write anonymously. I’m still afraid of being judged for what I write; revealing my true feelings and thoughts to everyone. I share openly with people who I feel might be receptive to it or at least non-judgemental about it, but I’m still not ready to share without being anonymous. As I read the post, I wondered if being anonymous is akin to contributing to the stigma. And I thought it’s ok. That I’ve started sharing is good. My aim of me and others benefiting from what I write does not change with me being or not being anonymous! So yeah, when the universe gives me a sign, I’ll be ready to be more transparent. Until then, this is OK. Thanks for the post!
When you are comfortable and the time is write you can. But just being that voice is already helping so much. Thank you for reading and commenting. X
Great post with fantastic tips! I’m so glad that conversations are happening and that there’s a cultural shift happening as we speak. A long way to go, but small steps add up to large results. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for reading and commenting.
As a physiotherapist i have seen many patients with compromised mental and physical health. You pointed out almost all the points nicely.
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Everyday is Mental Health Day. Thank you Lauren for shedding light on Mental Health and reminding us that we should show compassion and be a safe space for people are living with a mental health issue.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
These are fantastic points, very well said!
Thank you for reading and commenting. Can you link your blog if you have one?
Yes of course! Mommasmentalcorner.com
Commented
My Hope Is that the news media talks more about PTSD in people who have never been in the military. Anybody can get PTSD and all forms are valid.
Definitely!
Very helpful pointers! Educating yourself and others while approaching things in a compassionate manner is so important. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Great post. It is so important to talk about our mental health. I feel like this used to be something we had to hide, but we are now learning that it is important to talk about our issues and to get help.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Love this!! I post similar content, feel free to check my page out. 🙂
What a great article I completely agree we need to all share our own stories and our own struggles to help remove the stigma to mental health
I am glad you enjoyed reading this article. Thank you for reading and commenting.
I was born and raised in Jamaica and in Caribbean cultures mental illness is highly disregarded. Moving to America is where I first heard phrases like schizophrenic and bipolar and it was huge for me to understand that versus just over classifying someone and completely pushing them to the side. Thank you for this article huge message
Thank you for sharing your experience. There is still so much to be done around education and the understanding of mental health. Thank you for reading and commenting.
This is great advice! Thanks for posting.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
This is a great post, thank you so much for writing it and sharing. It is important for the world to know this.
I am glad you enjoyed reading the post. It is important for everyone to learn how they can make things better. Thank you for reading and commenting. X
Thank you for bringing my awareness to how I discuss mental health conditions. I started my own blog, Spider-Medicine.com, about surviving delusional disorder, and I hope it helps to increase public awareness of the condition.
I liked the point about language. I’ve so often used language like I am depressed or he is depressed thus resulting in giving labels and putting myself and others in a box. I am also reminded how often others and I have used words like mad, crazy, madman, lunatic, and schizo so casually thus demeaning and trivialising mental health struggles. Thank you for this lovely post.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.