Mental Health Shaming Isn't a Thing
Mental and emotional wellness affects us all.
There is absolutely no one who is safeguarded from grief, trauma, resentment, or saddened feelings. People in these temporary states need love and support, not ridicule.
Addictions, underdeveloped mental skills and reality perceptions are either miss firings in the brain or a result of damaged cognitive skills, or memories. People afflicted with these issues need programs, guidance and at times medication. A very small percentage of mental health sufferers are dangerous yet society continues to label, gossip and shun. Those that are unable to honestly identify and accept their own wellness, are punished further by stigmas, avoidance and rejection.
Suffering a low time emotionally and spiritually leaves a body open to illness and fatigue, often chronic health problems are triggered by a person’s emotional state of mind. Psychotherapists support that if mental health isn’t lovingly comforted and accepted by friends and family, the suffering person doesn’t stand much of a chance of recovery.
The shame of mental health therefore goes to the person who does nothing. A family that doesn’t love each other, isn’t a functional family. You simply cannot punish someone for having mental health issues, just like you cannot criticize someone for their gender, race or heritage.
The person who belittles someone else about mental health is not only abusive, but showing the level of their emotional unintelligence.
Listen to what a person says to you in conversation:
“She’s crazy, bunch of lunatics, stupid, he’s sick, they need help, That’s not normal,
they just want attention, if they don’t smarten up - they can’t be in my life”
Deflections are a sign that the speaker is over compensating, bullying and emotionally immature. They have no compassion and come across over entitled and arrogant. The speaker of such things does not have the ability to communicate. Poor communication destroys relationships. Neuroscience tells us that rejection registers as pain in the brain. Purposely causing someone pain and ridiculing them during a time of emotional conflict is an act of slander and discrimination. Judging a person does not define who they are, it defines who you are.
Bell Let’s Talk Day is January 31 2018, if you love someone who is struggling with mental illness, get in on the conversation. Learn how to cope and be supportive, be part of the solution, not the cause of suffering.
