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Mental Health Awareness From a Different Perspective

Why We All Need to Focus on Ourselves Sometimes, Taking the Stigma Out of Mental Health

By S PPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Sometimes we're powerless about the things we come into contact with in our daily lives. We are, however, in control of how we react to these things and how we let those things it into our life.

Whether it's ADHD, BPD, Anxiety, or any other mental health issue for that matter, stigma can play a very negative and harmful role in how we relate to ourselves and the world around us. In today's world mental health stigma is a very unfortunate reality that we tolerate way more then we should. Without the proper tools and resources stigma can have very harmful long-term effects on someone's life and treatment. It can also make something that is already very difficult to deal with so much more difficult than it has to be.

The worst type of stigma is when it’s self-directed, which is known as self stigma. Mental Health Awareness Month usually focuses on what we can do to educate others. I decided to take a different approach to this. That approach is teaching you to build yourself up so others can’t tear you down.

Instead of focusing on someone's uneducated opinions, focus on you:

I recall how upset I was when people were mocking me for having ADHD. I'd invest more effort into trying to educate them about ADHD being an actual medical condition. Then I was putting into my own actual treatment. This was incredibly counterproductive and a very ineffective coping strategy.

Why is this not effective?

It’s due to focusing on the wrong aspects of what I needed to better my own well-being. I concentrated on external things I had no control over. Instead of what I can do to help myself that I have control over to improve my life. Stigma is an unfortunate part of the world we live in but that doesn't mean that we need to let it have power over us. Remember this simple statement: you can't control the attitudes and behaviour of others but you can control how you react to those attitudes and behaviours.

Sometimes the only thing that you can do is take a deep breath and walk away from a conversation:

That's right, sometimes walking away is more important than proving someone wrong and you're correct. I'm not saying you shouldn't stick up for yourself, you need to pick your battles. Not everyone is going to change the way that they view something. We live in a very narrow-minded world, and your own health is more important than arguing with a loud mouth know it all.

Understanding the Difference Between Mental Health Facts and Mental Health Myths:

Many people state things such as everyone is a little ADHD or I know what having depression is like because I had such a bad day today. These kinds of statements take away from the seriousness of mental health issues and make people feel as if they are weak or seeking treatment for an imaginary health condition.

When in actuality what they are doing is seeking help for a valid medical condition and doing things that are going to make your life better. Remember that the uneducated opinions that some people have are just that opinions from uneducated people who have absolutely no understanding of mental health issues.

Pseudoscience isn't real science. Listen to qualified medical professionals:

We've all seen websites and social media pages dedicated to bashing modern health care practices and how you should be buying their products instead. Most alternative treatmentsare using people's fears and hesitations as a marketing ploy for selling their own untested and ineffective products, which are usually nothing more than overpriced supplements that many times aren't what they say they are.

In conclusion, here are a few things that we can do in our lives that will help with our treatment and make our lives a little better:

  • Building a strong sense of self-awareness and self-acceptance
  • Taking ownership of the things that you are directly and also indirectly responsible for
  • Understanding the difference between our wants and our needs
  • Not only building healthy boundaries but sticking with those boundaries and not making excuses for breaking them
  • The more understand yourself and your medical condition the better you can communicate your issues to the proper medical professionals
  • Being honest with yourself and also understanding the difference between constructive criticism and someone just trying to put you down.
  • Seeing things outside of your own beliefs and opinions especially when a doctor or therapist is telling you these things

Mental Health Awareness Month shouldn't just be about educating others, we should also educate and empower ourselves. Like I previously stated it's about building yourself up so others can’t tear you down.

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About the Creator

S P

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