Mental Health Day/Week - A Long Disjointed Discourse. I had a chat with someone today. I shared with them my mental health story because I thought it might help their mental health story and the story of their loved ones. When we share, our community can feel a little less lonely. Just share wisely. Finding out that someone has some mental health issues or diagnosis is not a thing that should suddenly change how you talk about someone behind their back (I knew there was something different about them!) nor should it label them as somehow abnormal (even if they are statistically outside of the normal range on certain issues). Its a thing thats unique to them in much the same way as our hair colour or critical thinking skills are unique to us. Everyone responds better when they understood as a unique human being with unique needs in relationship and communication. Some people have mental health issues that derive from a chemical imbalance ... Kind of like menstruation or growth spurts or inflammation around a wound. Its a natural and thoroughly normal way of being for them. Some people have mental health issues that are fuelled by outside issues - which results in a chemical imbalance. Its just that some imbalances are easier to manage using medication and counselling and others respond better to just counselling of some kind. The health issues often cause considerable distress for the person and their family. These issues will not magically disappear once a person has medicine or counselling. The pain a person with mental health issues experiences is internal and as real as the pain we feel when we smash our shin into the top of the coffee table - it hurts. Some days are better than others. Some days the world seems bright and sunny, like Princess Fiona in Shrek when she sings with the bird. Then suddenly, one day, it seems like we have become the bird and are about to explode. Intelligence, creativity, values, love, ability, potential - these are all present and possible. Frustration, anxiety, fear, uncertainty, lack of energy, fatigue, unclear thinking, memory loss, loneliness, depression, hopelessness and feelings of isolation can also be present. Quite often, mental health is a convoluted apparent contradiction. I say apparent because, well, you can simultaneously feel or think things that appear to be mutually exclusive; but theyre not. At the end of the day, it really does come down to a social issue. A community issue. A relational issue. The relationship with yourself, with your close others and with the community around you. They wont take it all away, but they can help us cope. Sometimes. To all my friends and family who bare this great burden of mental health issues; to the Warriors who get up each day even though every fibre of their being begs them to remain unmoving and unthinking in their bed; to all the people who love when it seems futile, who work when it feels impossible, and who yearn for a better day, even as the night closes in all around; to you, I say, well done, brave Warrior. May this days battle be brief and its reprieve spectacular. You have earned it.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 12:14:55 +0000
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