Celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month

Introduction

While most of us probably think that mental health awareness month is only about mental illness, everyone has mental health. In the spirit of it being mental health awareness month, I thought I’d share some about my mental health story and ideas for how you can take better care of your own mental health, whether or not you have a mental illness. Ways to spread awareness or support the cause will be sprinkled throughout.

tw: discussion of mental illness and mentions of/description of panic attacks involving dissociation

Spreading Awareness: Telling Your Story

As an example, I’m going to share a simplified journey of my own experiences with mental illness and my current mental health. However, this can also look like just being open and honest if someone asks you questions. Of course, I’m not saying to shout that you have clinical depression from the rooftops. Use discretion and maybe hold back on all of the gory or TMI details. Sometimes, it’s important to use your voice. Just also use your brain about it.

Looking back on it, I have probably had mental health issues since I was a child. I didn’t think anything of it, though, because it was my normal. Once high school started, everything changed. I quickly realized that the amount of anxiety and depression I was feeling was not going to go away like it was supposed to. I could no longer pretend to be normal because nothing about having three, multiple hours long panic attacks per day screamed healthy or usual.

That anxiety fed the depression and it was no longer manageable on my own. People started to notice. I didn’t know that mental illness ran in my family so, at the time, I thought I was the only person like this around me and maybe in the world (not to be dramatic or anything. I did my best to hide it but an overnight weekend camp with nine panic attacks involving everything from severe depersonalization and derealization, full body numbness, and hyperventilating to needing an almost full-time caretaker (because they lasted for the majority of the camp). Said volunteer told my family and I eventually started getting treatment.

For a long time, everything got worse. We eventually found out that I have some weird genetics that make me process most psychiatric medications differently from the average person. In addition to the expected Major Depressive Disorder, Insomnia, and Generalized & Social Anxiety Disorders, I was eventually diagnosed with C-PTSD and ADHD. The symptoms associated with these conditions on top of my poor responses to most medications made it really hard for my condition to improve, especially right away.

Now, with years of therapy and medication management I still have a ton to work on. Trauma left me with a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms, triggers, and relationship skills that I either have to reframe, abandon, or change. But I’m getting there and thank God for that. Just one day at a time.

Now that I’ve shared a little bit of my story, I hope that sharing your own doesn’t feel so scary. In the goal of self-improvement, I challenge you to tell at least one person this month about your journey with mental illness (if that’s something you experience).

Getting Involved/Supporting the Cause

• volunteer at a local shelter for abuse survivors or a homeless shelter
• educate yourself on a mental illness with an extra strong stigma such as Dissociative Identity Disorder or Schizophrenia (make sure you use a reputable source and that it’s one that is trusted by people who actually have one of these conditions)
• kindly ask people to not say harmful phrases such as “I’m so OCD” when they do not have OCD or “That made me feel triggered” (when not referring to trauma and mocking those who actually have triggers)
• donate a portion of your paycheck to a charity or organization supporting those with mental illness like To Write Love On Her Arms or NAMI
• when discussing or posting about a potentially triggering/sensitive topic, make sure to mention that to prevent unintentionally or unknowingly hurting someone
• do something for a loved one with a mental illness that helps relieve some of the pressure it is causing them (this could be something as simple as doing the dirty dishes for your germaphobic cousin on a rough day)

Simple Ways to Take Care of Your Mental Health

• set apart a few minutes at the beginning and/or end of the day to process how you’re doing, what happened or will happen, and other things that are occupying space in your brain–this can be done through journaling, planning, meditating, cooking, while drinking your morning coffee, or by doing anything that helps you organize your thoughts
• limit the amount of time you are spending on social media and staring at a screen
• make time for a little bit of rest (or Sabbath if you’re religious) every single day
• even on you’re most challenging days, fight to take care of your basic needs like taking your meds, showering, eating, drinking water, etc.
• work in physical activity into your daily routine–can be as straightforward as walking for 15 minutes
• use symptom trackers like the ones in my free resource library to keep track of your mental health and ask for help when you need it (it’s nothing to feel bad about)

Conclusion

While many of these ideas and options may seem like no-brainers to those of us who have been in therapy, sometimes we need a reminder or to hear it in a different way. You might have noticed that some of my previous posts about mental health and other articles you’ve read about mental health include these concepts. Not only are they important (and one might even say necessary), most people I know, myself included, aren’t going around drinking as much water as they should be or setting and keeping healthy habits to process their day.

As always when I write about mental health, if you are in need of immediate assistance call your country’s emergency number and for mental health help, you can find an international list of crisis hotlines here.