Mental Health Awareness

[Starkist]

What's up, every one!

This is probably not the place to post this since there can be a lot of shit storms on here. However, I enjoy opinions on certain subjects and mental health is one of them.

Personally, I suffer from mental health problems. I have not been one to keep it a secret. I know when I would tell people about it, it was like telling them I had the Plague.

Nowadays, it seems more common and more spoken about on TV. There are (I don't watch mutch TV. so I know of two shows currently) shows on TV that mention it. One is Empire and the other is Shameless.

In Empire, the show incorporates Bi-polar & Depression into the show. What is interesting about it is the fact the characters are not white. In the black culture (from what I have been told), it is not one to admit they have health problems, especially mentally. It seems unexpected, so it is good to see it on TV to raise awareness that having mental health problems does not make one a freak. Shameless is about Bi-polar & Depression as well. The show is mainly a white cast and it is (from what i have been told) common for cacussians to belive in getting their mental health symptoms checked out. So this show is raising awareness of Mental Health like Empire is doing.

So what are your thoughts on mental health awareness? Are you for it or against it? If so, what is your rationale for being for or against the awareness?

 

[klunderbunker]

I can't see how any rational person would be against it. If there's something wrong inside someone's head and it could cause them to hurt either themselves or someone else, of course they should be getting some kind of help. I really don't see any argument against getting treatment or assistance with something like this.

 

[JGlass]

I applaud your efforts to try to get a discussion on mental health going, but like KB expressed, I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who is AGAINST mental health awareness.

I have also not kept it a secret that I work with people with major psychiatric disorders. It's a serious problem in this country, because the people who suffer from these diseases often wind up being a burden on the economy because they struggle to maintain jobs, sobriety, or housing, and as a result they often wind up fending for themselves on the streets which can result in hospitalizations, arrest, or death. That's not to mention the human rights factor, as I'm sure we would all agree that nobody should be condemned to such a life because of a condition they did not choose to have.

We definitely need more mental health awareness in this country because it will lead to more money being spent on psychiatric research, which in turn will lead to progress in treating mental illness. There's no reason mental health should be treated any different from any other type of illness, and yet it often is.

 

[ShinChan]

Mental Health is way more important than physical health. You're healthy physically but it won't do any good if mental health is poor.

There should be more discussions about it for sure. Here, such discussions ain't encouraged which is a horrible trend.

It's damn important for humanity.

 

[tdmoon]

Some may point to Reagan's policies as an example of being against health care, what with killing funding and purging hospitals and all. That's been some time in the past but many people still don't see it or understand mental illnesses or the necessity of treating them.
I'm certainly no expert on the topic but I did work in a psych hospital many years ago and I think it helped me considerably in learning about the issue. I enjoyed most of the patients but it can be very frustrating seeing those who appeared to be making improvements slip back so frequently. I also had an ex-girlfriend who was bipolar and her struggles brought the issue to an even more personal level. It's hard, really hard, for most of these people and though we've come a long way in understanding and treating psychological disorders, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

 

[Slash-LN]

I've been pretty open on here about my own mental health shit. In fact I've had two suicide attempts in the last 4 months. One that landed me in the hospital in ICU for a few days before being sent to the mental health floor for about a week.

There's still definitely a stigma surrounding the subject. I'm totally okay with TV shows portraying mental health stuff.

I don't even get offended when they do it in a comedic fashion. Like when Homer and Ned Flanders both end up in asylums on two different episodes of The Simpsons.

There's been a lot of progress when it comes to people addressing it publicly. Especially celebrities admitting their struggles. And because people are so attached to celebrities it probably helps some of those people step up.

Through my own struggles I can site at least four people in my life that have used me as a reason to finally open up about their own issues and seek help. The same thing happened when I went through addiction. That's probably the best thing that has come out of my own struggles. And while I've been struggling through this stuff for a large part of my life the worst of it has really been the past nine years. But at the same time I've learned things that I can then pass on to other people.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I am aware of mental health.