Mental Health Awareness Week

Happy October! I'm a day late, but I'm nonetheless happy that it's October. October happens to be my favorite month, even though right now it's extra cold and for the millionth week in a row, rainy outside. I love pumpkin, cozy cardigans, boots, football and the rapidly approaching holiday season, but October also has special meaning to me. It happens to be Breast Cancer Awareness month, which I of course will be posting about later in the month, but the first week of October is also Mental Health Awareness week. One of my favorite things about getting out of class early when I'm off from work is watching Dr Oz and Ellen - don't judge me. On Thursday, Leann Rimes was on the Ellen Degeneres show and the subject of eating disorders came up. Leann said that she does not have an eating disorder, but she feels a degree of responsibility for people who suffer from eating disorders and are stigmatized because they have them. I understood exactly what she meant by that comment.
Any mental health issue, whether it's depression, bulimia, addiction (be it alcohol, drug, gambling or sex), bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, tends to be a silent one. There's two major reasons for this: mental health issues often aren't regarded as true medical disorders and mental health disorders are often used as insults or verbal weapons.
If I've learned anything from Physiological Psychology and my struggles with depression, it's that neurotransmitters have a huge effect on the brain's function and, consequently, mental disorders and addictions. There's no need to get into the technical details, but because mental health issues are real medical concerns, they don't just "go away" and they often require medications to fully treat.
Even though I consider myself in recovery from my depression and eating disorder, it has never been an easy subject for me to discuss. Often when people hear depression they think "just get over it" or "cheer up", but I know that it isn't that easy. What is worse though is when people use the knowledge of a mental health issue against someone. I've confided in my issues to a few people, only to have it thrown back in my face. The very thing that really sent me to therapy was hearing from someone I thought was my friend that I would never be successful, that guys I liked had used me for sex, and that I was constantly feeling sorry for myself.
I can't say that I would just announce my struggles to a room full of strangers because I wouldn't. I'm not embarrassed of who I used to be though or what I have gone through to get through this point. If I had to choose between keeping my personal life private or helping even one person recognize that mental health issues are as valid as any medical concern, I would choose the latter in a heartbeat.

Posted in: addiction, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, mental health, mental health awareness week, october