Mental health issues are more common today and three exterior hardships may inhibit a healthy mental state.
In a day and age where over 20 per cent of Canadians are recognized as having a mental health issue, we should hope that the topic would be openly and easily discussed. However, as many who have gone through, or are going through, mental illness have probably experienced – it isn’t. Walking around with a mental illness can be like walking around holding the pin of a grenade, because if anyone finds out, your grenade explodes. Will they think of you differently? Are you a less capable human if you struggle with depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsion or schizophrenia? The answer is no, and as many dis/able bodied activists will argue, it is not the symptoms you suffer from that puts you in a disadvantaged position, but the consequences of suffering them in the society we live in. From my experience with mental illness, there are three things in life that make a mental illness harder to cope with.
First is the pressure from friends and family. While struggling with a mental illness, you are still expected to relate and act as if nothing is wrong – and often people will assume nothing is wrong. For someone who suffers from anxiety, a very common illness among students, you never know when your anxiety will be triggered, but when it is, you feel pressure to not show your discomfort, which in some cases can make the anxiety worse. This can be particularly hard when you are with people you know because they expect certain things of you. Just because your best friend is completely comfortable in every social setting does not mean social settings are always conducive to a healthy mental state for you, so it is important make sure to do things that will help you mentally.
The second factor is pressure from society. Every person has experienced social pressures, and with mental illness these social pressures may become harder to deal with. As a student, a lot is expected of you in terms of ability to deal with a lot of daily stimulation. Feelings of being overwhelmed, and the inability to deal with all one has to do in a day, can be amplified if you are not mentally healthy. You need to make sure to take care of yourself and your needs, which means setting a schedule to meet your abilities and giving your brain a much needed mental break.
The third factor that makes living with a mental illness hard to deal with is the inability to talk about it. This is the most important factor, in my opinion. When you suppress your issues, you can become disconnected from people; you start to feel as if they wouldn’t understand or you begin to feel as though they will think of you differently. The truth is that you are not alone when suffering a mental illness, and by talking you can ‘normalize’ your struggle among your peers.
Anxiety and depression, among many other mental illnesses, are common mental health issues affecting students. The more you talk about your struggles, the more you will realize other people have suffered the same struggles at one time or know someone who has. By talking about it, you not only liberate yourself, and since you never know who else has been suppressing their mental illness, you can liberate others.
This week is a great time to begin talking about the mental health issues affecting students, friends, family members and colleagues. Do not let the stigma of mental illness keep you from liberating yourself and others through the power of talk.