Eliminating the Stigma Attached to Mental Illness

Mental health is a crucial component of an individual's life; functioning effectively is difficult without it. Good mental health can enhance your productivity and efficiency at work, in educational settings, and in managing your personal life and relationships. It assists you in adapting to changes in life and coping with challenges, both vital for maintaining quality relationships. The World Health Organization states, “There is no health without mental health.” While not everyone will face a mental illness during their lifetime, all individuals will encounter challenges regarding their mental well-being. Mental health disorders can lead to distress and obstacles in social, work, and family activities due to shifts in emotions, thoughts, or behaviors.

If it's truly significant, why isn't there more conversation surrounding it?

Let’s discuss the negative perceptions associated with mental health issues and how individuals often endure their struggles in silence due to fear of being viewed as weak or insecure, or as someone unable to handle their mental well-being. Why should they have to endure their pain in isolation? It’s unjust to them and to those who care about them. What steps can we take to make them feel more comfortable? How can we break the stigma? To begin, we should refrain from shaming and blaming those who are facing mental health challenges.

You should never criticize or place blame on someone dealing with a mental illness; firstly, you lack the authority to judge, and secondly, you do not influence the onset of such conditions. Mental illness, much like death, shows no favoritism. It does not discriminate by age, gender, location, wealth, social standing, race/ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, background, or any other facet of cultural identity; it can impact anyone.

Could it be an absence of understanding?

Many individuals instinctively link mental illness with being insane, unwell, or reliant on medication. Often, people do not take the initiative to educate themselves or research thoroughly to comprehend mental health disorders and their impact on individuals, nor are they always open to learning how to engage with someone who is experiencing one.

Might it be connected to culture?

I've collaborated with various clients in the child welfare and social care sectors, each with different backgrounds and beliefs. There was a time I spoke with a parent who remarked, "I am too healthy to have a sick child." Regrettably, some people hold such a limited perspective, but I understand how their lack of knowledge influences their view of the situation. Some parents have kids who face mental health issues or developmental challenges, and these children are often ostracized, leaving their needs unaddressed. Even when they recognize that something is not right, some parents opt to ignore the situation instead of pursuing the necessary treatment, assessment, and resources their child may need to cope with their condition. As a result, the child will grow up grappling with their illness, which is likely to deteriorate over time.

Is it the press?

Individuals with mental health conditions are frequently depicted in the media as aggressive, reckless, unpredictable, or delinquent. Is the press casting these people, who seek to be acknowledged, understood, and supported, as individuals to be avoided? Everyone has faced or is currently facing mental health challenges; keep in mind that you don't require a formal diagnosis to connect. So, how can we dismantle the stigma?

Here are some of my recommendations:

• We need to have more discussions about mental health by being more transparent and open to sharing our personal experiences and how we managed to overcome them. Remember that you could assist someone who is facing a similar situation.

  
  

• We should allocate more resources towards mental health services and practitioners due to the lack of psychologists, psychiatrists, and mentors, as well as the long wait times and high costs involved.

  
  

• Gaining knowledge for yourself and others will facilitate conversations that encourage empowerment rather than shame.

  
  

• \Keep in mind the saying "it takes a village"? It requires a community effort to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

Wishing you good health this Friday and a wonderful weekend ahead!

Safeguard the children; they are our sole chance for redemption.

Many are concerned about the lack of compassion and peace in our world. Some are striving to promote harmony in a community fractured by hostility, violence, and despair. Others fail to see that the answers are already within our reach. In my view, children are the most impacted by our circumstances. They represent our future, but without protection, that future may not exist. Each child is unique and invaluable, offering something to the world that no one else can provide. We need to understand that each of us is a piece in what I refer to as the puzzle of life. A puzzle cannot be completed until all its pieces are assembled. If we consider ourselves as these pieces, it means that we all play a role in creating the final picture, which symbolizes unity. We are currently in an era marked by a lack of unity and peace, a world filled with bitterness, rage, and a shortage of empathy, one would hope for peace to flourish.

Despite reaching the year 2025, many individuals are still coping with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, both during and after its peak. As Americans work towards recovery and rebuilding their lives, they are faced with additional economic changes that will similarly impact them in the long term. These changes consist of the dismantling of the Department of Education, reductions in federal funding, and a significant surge in the cost of living. By dismantling these programs, they are reducing financial support for initiatives that support, educate, and protect our most vulnerable and underrepresented students, resulting in heightened fear and anxiety for many families, as well as significant unrest in communities. The Department of Education is crucial in enforcing federal regulations that prohibit discrimination and ensuring that all students have access to an education that allows them to reach their highest potential.

Children who do not eat three meals a day and look forward to going to school to do so are no longer able to do so. Children from broken homes who want to go to school are unable to do so because they are forced to stay in an abusive environment and take lessons online. School children are terrified for their safety after a fellow student chooses to carry a firearm to school and shoot it up. Some kids are buying guns and carrying them to school and other places because they don't feel safe traveling without one. Due to a troubling rise in gun-related violence, innocent children are losing their lives to random gunfire. Concern has been expressed by experts, parents, and service providers, yet I'm curious about their intended actions. In my view, community leaders and government officials must enhance their strategies, as they repeatedly assure us of their support and protection, but their actions so far have not reflected that commitment.

Many of our young people have fallen prey to the misdeeds of others, dealing with struggles around mental health, self-esteem, food shortages, and various other unimaginable problems that have intensified in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Child advocates Frank A. Maffei and Cathleen Palm discovered that child abuse results in more fatalities than the COVID-19 virus. Their analysis of pediatric data related to COVID-19 indicates that the pandemic has had a profoundly negative impact on children. "When a child passes away, the potential that child's life held is now gone, and society suffers as a result," state Maffei and Palm. The frequency of adolescent suicide attempts resulting in emergency room visits has risen, and feelings of isolation and alienation are exacerbating the issues that children and teenagers face. Even though many organizations are working to provide access to their programs for our children, it remains insufficient.

Together, we must safeguard the children, as many are unable to fully experience and enjoy life. Their innocent spirits, along with other at-risk groups, are facing a struggle. The initial action is to raise greater awareness about these concerns.

Examining Your Emotional Health

Happy Wellness Wednesday! Do you feel emotionally well this Wednesday? Shouldn't we all think about this question? We're all guilty of not checking in with ourselves as often as we should, it's easier said than done. Like checking our phones or brushing our teeth, it should come naturally to us.

So what are emotions? How can we examine them? According to Oxford, an emotion is a spontaneous, instinctive mental state brought on by one's surroundings, mood, or social interactions. A tangle of feelings followed by physical and psychological changes that impact our thoughts and actions is a common definition. Since emotions are the psycho-physiological methods in which we respond to an action, our impulses might inform us of what is happening as a means of addressing the issue by involving brain activity (Van Dyck et al., 2014).

According to Calvo et al. (2015), there are numerous physical manifestations of emotions that have a significant role in our social interactions, social outcomes, and the way we express our emotions to others. In my thesis, "Dancing, Mindfulness, and Our Emotions: Embracing the Mind, Body, and Sole," I delve into greater detail on emotions and wellness by identifying how mindfulness and the creative arts may help us identify, understand, and release our repressed emotions. In order to illustrate the relationships between emotions, renowned psychologist Robert Pluchik created the Wheel of Emotions in 1980. The diagram is shown below:

Robert Plutchik created the wheel of emotion, a tool that is crucial for improving self-awareness, communication, emotional intelligence, and the understanding and management of emotions. Better emotional regulation and interpersonal interactions result from its assistance in helping people recognize, express, and control their emotions. According to D'Ascenzo (2009), "since persons bodily resonate with emotions" (Collins, 2004, pg.6), positive emotions can restore reactions to circumstances by reflecting our self-consciousness.

My practice mostly involves children, thus I frequently stress the importance of educating them to recognize and control their emotions and to cultivate a healthy and strong subconscious mind. Which techniques can we use to help children learn to identify and control their emotions? A child's mental growth will benefit from learning how to express their emotions. Children who are aware of and in control of their emotions will feel capable of handling whatever challenge life presents. A child who can express "I'm mad at you," or "that hurts my feelings," is better equipped to handle disagreements politely rather than physically. Regretfully, emotional expression is often portrayed by society as a sign of weakness when, in reality, it is a sign of extraordinary power. As an adult or person in a position of authority, think about explaining a circumstance that made you feel a particular way. This is an excellent method of teaching children about emotions and how they are normal.

We should encourage children to share what triggers a certain emotion. Despite this, children's books, animation movies, and television shows emphasize it or even implore children to connect the word to the emotion's face (for instance, a red, frowning face would indicate an angry face). It is questioned whether kids comprehend the true meaning of emotion or what caused them to feel it, let alone recognize it. Families and classrooms need to support this strategy more often.

We are all aware of how important mental health is throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood; emotional well-being is essential for managing life's challenges and maintaining positive relationships.

Be well!