Mental Health Awareness Week

As I’m sure you are aware, this week is mental health awareness week. Just about everyone is marketing about it, including about how we need to end the stigma and to start talking about it more and accepting that it is part of being human.

It saddens me that we still have to do this. It saddens me that there is still stigma around it in some areas of the community. It saddens me that some communities can’t or won’t accept that it is just part of the human condition, thinking instead that it is something to be ashamed of. In all these things, there is judgement and non-acceptance running rife, both of which further inflate the mental health issues of the sufferers. Shame too makes it so much worse. Shame, judgement and non-acceptance lead to loneliness for the sufferer. Which is this year’s theme. Loneliness itself can destroy us from the inside out. Again making the overall mental health issues so much worse, spiraling downwards.

And yet it could affect any one of us (if it hasn’t already). Just as anyone can break a bone, or pull a muscle, so too can anyone be affected by depression or anxiety, or any other mental illness.

It is well known nowadays that judgement, shame and lack of acceptance play a significant part in creating some mental health issues. Why let it continue?

Let’s all do our little bit to make the world a better place in this way. Let’s put our judgements, shame and non-acceptance into a pigeonhole, close the lid and see how light we ourselves feel. Let’s then see how it lifts the burden from the shoulder of others too. Let’s offer our metaphorical hand in kindness, openness and see how good it feels for all concerned. Reach out and end the loneliness; let go of the judgement.