Introducing The Next Generation Of Leaders And Thinkers

The Spectrum of Mental Health: Gaining a Better Understanding

Illness is not binary, I think we can all agree on that. It is not: either you are perfectly healthy or you are fatally ill. So why is it that we have such a defined idea of what a mentally ill person is like? It feels as though when people hear the words “mentally ill” they conjure up some different notion of illness to the “normal” one. One that involves obvious symptoms of a severe ailment. One whose proponent is a character in a horror film who has escaped from a hospital to wreak havoc in society.

The reality is that mental illnesses affect a huge number of people daily. Anxiety and depression, the most common forms, are predominantly misunderstood as shown in the way that they are sometimes belittled or dismissed. “You should be more sociable.”, “Make more friends!” and “Go out more!” are among the most common phrases tossed about when discussing people’s social anxiety issues which seem to blame individuals for their feelings and are examples of the confusion surrounding the topic.

I’m not here to be condescending, to make you feel guilty or to tell you to look down on people who suffer from these things and to pity them. I am not here to plea that those dealing with mental illnesses are being tremendously wronged. Not at all. Stick with me to the end if you really want to believe me, but first I have to get all the important, classic rhetoric out in the open that might make it seem that way.

Anxiety and depression – which in my experience seem to be the two mental illnesses that are sidelined most frequently – are not a choice. (Trust me, nobody ever woke up in the morning and decided to feel like a truck rammed into their chest the second they opened their eyes.) Neither are they an indicator of an individual with a complete loss of control over every aspect of their life who is suicidal and so mentally unstable they don’t know what’s left and what’s right anymore (they can be, but they are not necessarily). Like any ailment, anxiety and depression operate on scales.

We must stop thinking that a more severe illness is a more valid one.

People can suffer from mild social anxiety for a week when they’re thrown into an unfamiliar situation or a year as they grapple with bigger issues. Either way, they can handle it well, show no sign of it whatsoever, show up to their daily responsibilities, complete them with a smile and be friendly towards their colleagues, but this does not mean that dealing with everything is a breeze. Think of it like having a headache. It doesn’t have to manifest itself in the way you interact with others and carry out tasks, but you still feel it even if you push through the pain and don’t complain about it constantly (and sometimes it will be at its worst when you’re alone with nothing to distract you from it).

For many people, it can be difficult to talk about the state of their mental health with others, particularly if they’re seen as always having it together and being totally fine. There is a fear that revealing that they struggle with anxiety or depression will be seen as melodramatic or attention-seeking because “evidently it’s not true”.

I ask that we realise two things to make it easier. Mental illness can be concealed. Opening up about what you are struggling with can be a difficult feat for a lot of people. Often trying to figure out how to go about it can cause anxiety itself. Please let’s be respectful of this and remove the stigma of what someone who is struggling mentally looks like/ acts like / is like. We all deal with these things throughout our lives, even if we don’t care to put labels on them. We don’t necessarily need to baby someone who tells us they are dealing with mental illness, nor do we need to blame them for their state and tell them to suck it up and sort it out. We just need to do our best to respect and understand them.

The second thing I ask that we acknowledge is that mental illness can be dealt with in many ways. The mere fact that it can be concealed is evidence of that.

Someone can feel depressed one day and feel better the next. It does not mean that they were lying yesterday.

I feel as though so many people view all mental illness as an extreme impediment in living daily life, as though they equate it with psychosis (loss of touch with reality). Illness comes in varying degrees, be it mental or physical. And just like physical illness, according to the degree, mental illness can be dealt with well individually or need more medical attention. Either way, it is real.

The bottom line is this:

We need to normalise mental illness and realise that it exists as a spectrum.

We should not be afraid of confessing to feeling anxious or depressed, no matter how extremely. And we should not recoil when hearing that another feels this way either. We must open our eyes and notice that this is the human experience, and it is far easier to suffer with a helping hand than with the wag of a finger or no hand at all.

 

N.B. This article by no means attempts to dismiss the gravity of severe mental illness or imply that everyone can deal with such things on their own. It intends only to highlight the spectrum of mental illness.

Comments are closed.

Related Posts