Mental health illnesses, be it depression, stress, mood disorders, or schizophrenia, create debilitating suffering and devastating trauma. Sufferers experience unbelievable distress, grief, and misery, unable to comprehend their feelings and emotions. Entire families suffer a loss of life quality and happiness when one member falls prey to a mental health affliction.
While many succeed in breaking free from the shackles of depression and anxiety disorders, others struggle with more complex illnesses. Mental health diseases like schizophrenia and personality disorders are increasingly complex, with a higher risk of relapse.
Mental illnesses are rising at a heightened pace. This epidemic begs the question: how can we help people who suffer? It’s simple: we can help them by educating ourselves and using our knowledge to spread awareness and fight stigmas.
Keep reading to discover how you can play your part in spreading awareness around mental health issues.
Educate Yourself
You cannot spread awareness without taking the initiative to educate yourself in the complexities and intricacies of mental illnesses. You see, mental health conditions stem from an array of risk factors, including biological, genetic, and environmental factors. It’s crucial to understand that mental illnesses have the same diagnosis and progression as physical illnesses.
Much like diabetes alters the functioning of our bodily organs, depression alters the functioning of our brain and neurotransmitters. Anxiety stems in the brain and overpowers our cognitive functioning with fear, phobias, and overwhelming stress. It would help if you educated yourself with in-depth psychological learning to understand the risk factors, causes, and diagnostic measures.
People often wonder, why is health promotion important in treating mental illnesses and fighting off stigmas? You see, promoting mental health awareness encourages people to stop suffering silently and get the help they need. Your education can facilitate enhanced life quality for someone who is too overwhelmed to seek treatment.
You can use your knowledge to stage timely interventions for family members and friends drowning in depression or substance abuse. Learning about risk factors, symptoms, and treatment options will help you nurture your mental wellbeing and help others around you.
Start the Conversation
Is mental health a subject that is avoided or belittled in your family? Do you live in a community riddled with domestic violence, substance abuse, and soaring crime rates? Families and communities that avoid mental health discourses are most likely to suffer the brunt of psychological illnesses. Millions worldwide suffer a lifetime of agony without realizing they’re fighting depression or social anxiety.
Starting the conversation and getting the word out will get people to think and take action to improve their lives. Much like we stage educational campaigns to raise awareness around breast cancer and cardiovascular issues, mental health awareness is crucial.
You can use your knowledge to start a conversation that allows community members to learn and identify the signs. For instance, is your community struggling with rising suicide rates and young people taking their lives? You can do your research to determine the indicators and organize a campaign to fight suicidal depression by raising awareness.
Offer Your Support and Time
Undoubtedly, the best thing you can do to raise awareness is to lend your ear and time to people in pain and suffering. Be available to talk to family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and community members. If they show signs of stress, depression, or anxiety, help them find the right resources to get help.
If you suspect someone can commit suicide or self-harm, help them by staging an intervention to save their lives. Lending support and compassion is the most powerful step you can take to raise awareness and help people.
Share your Struggles and Experiences
Sharing your story and struggles with battling a mental health illness is a powerful strategy. It will empower people struggling with similar issues, showing them a roadmap to wellness and health. Sharing your struggles with depression, anxiety, substance use, or any other illness will prove unbelievably uplifting.
It will help sufferers realize that there’s a way out and that treatments do work wonders. Many people live out their lives in denial or hesitate to seek treatment in fear of branding themselves as mentally unfit. Sharing your story can instill the will and motivation they need to recognize the signs and seek treatment.
Encourage Kindness and Compassion
It’s natural for people to talk about mental health issues using reproachful, disparaging, and unjustly critical language. Such language and condescension usually stem from a lack of knowledge, awareness, and at times, empathy. People have an exaggerated and flawed idea of inner strength and willpower. They don’t understand the biological origins of mental illnesses.
You can spread awareness around these biological and cognitive risk factors and encourage people to embrace kindness. You can politely help people understand the damaging impact of their disparaging remarks and unkind words. Your knowledge can help people realize the destructive effect of the stigmas their language is reinforcing.
Conclusion
There’s a lot you can do to contribute to the fight against mental health stigmas and misinformation. For instance, you can volunteer at mental health facilities or start a community-led initiative to raise awareness.
Social media offers a wealth of tools to create an inclusive space to spread awareness and kindness. It all boils down to uplifting people, sharing resources, and encouraging them to get the help they need. Choose the suitable medium that aligns with your goals, and get started right away.
