2016-05-20

#MHAW16

Hello all you wonderful people!
I don't say anything for a week and then I update my blog twice in less than one hour, but it's a special occasion!

It's Mental Health Awareness Week 2016!!

The wonderful Nora from NoraFinds informed me about it. And my first thought was "How did I miss this?". My second thought however was that I have to write a blog post about mental health.

I have previously mentioned my struggles with mental illness on the blog (herehere and here). I suffer from OCD, anxiety and depression, so for me mental health awareness is super important. For the sake of this special week, I wanted to try and put into words why mental health awareness is so crucial to talk about.

Mental health is extremely important, and very underrated. If you are mentally healthy, then it might be difficult to understand what the big deal is. But here's the thing, you can't really imagine being mentally ill until you become mentally ill. It is easy to imagine having a broken bone in the body. But an unhealthy mental condition is very hard to imagine.

So for that reason alone, it is super important that the people that experience mental health problems talk about it, to increase the understanding in the people who are lucky enough not to suffer.

But for people to start talking about mental health issues it has to become okay to talk about it. The stigma needs to be removed, and it needs to be accepted. For that to happen we need more understanding which comes from talking about it. So you see, it's a catch-22.

Some brave people (and I suppose that also includes me) are talking about mental health and illness, even though there is still a lot a stigma attached to it. But this needs to be done, because mental illness affects a big proportion of the world!

We need to stop viewing mental illnesses as something that can be turned off by the flick of a switch. Mental illnesses are legitimate illnesses! They are just as real as cancer, diabetes and the flu. Take it from me, I'm a cancer researcher.

But seriously, if we're going to change the way we look at mental illnesses and mental health we have to become more open about it as a community. We have to stop silencing people that need to talk about it, we have to stop attaching guilt and shame to it. Once we've done that it'll become just as easy to say "I had the flu last week" as "I suffer from depression".

I think my rant is done.
So I want to finish up this post by saying this...
If you are suffering from mental health issues, don't be afraid to ask for help. There is no shame in it. If you break a bone you go to the doctor, if you suffer from mental illness (or think you do) then you should also see a doctor. Talk about it if you can. With anyone!
And I want anyone reading this to know that you can always contact me (you'll find my email address under 'Contact') if you need to.

Be well!
Much love,


10 comments:

  1. Preach sister. You're absolutely right about there being no shame in seeking help, it is a plight enough for the person who is suffering from a mental illness, but being shunned by society can only delay/ inhibit any possibility of recovery the person may have. We don't deprive a person with a physical illness of the attention and acceptance.. yet mental health is considered a taboo subject. I may have mentioned this before however alongside the attached stigma, it infuriates me how serious conditions have been incorporated into day to day jargon, the slightest deviation is offhandedly referred to as 'ocd' or 'schizo' or 'bipolar', which trivializes the severity of the condition to the extent that it isn't taken seriously and many cases are left unnoticed.

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    1. Thank you so much for reading and commenting Sumeyye <3
      I agree with everything you said. It angers me a great deal too when people use actual illnesses for behaviours that are in no way pathological. You are right in that it trivialises the conditions.
      Thanks again. People like you give me hope of a better future.
      Much love

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  2. All I can add is 👏👏👏👏👏!

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    1. Thank you so much! Thank you for reading and commenting. It makes me happy to see that there are people like you in the world.
      Much love

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  3. You are such a lovely person!

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    1. That's a very nice thing to say - Thank you so much!
      Much love

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  4. such a pretty style !

    I'm a blogger from Germany and love to meet new people around the world :) check out my blog and lets keep in touch & follow for follow :)

    My new short hair ?-post here


    Facebook |Bloglovin |♥Instagram | Lookbook |Google✚


    Stay Gold

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  5. You are always so inspiring, Mona! I really do hope this stigma is removed one day...and others will have the courage to talk as openly as you do.

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    1. Thank you Lindsey, that means so much!
      Yes! That would be such an awesome thing. I keep seeing people being more open about mental health, so I think we are already doing well with ending the stigma, thanks to people like you :) <3

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