Alright, I searched a lot but couldn’t find anything related to this…
Anyway, I read an article about mental health today, I won’t link it since it’s Dutch but I was interested on people’s opinions on it.
It states that one of the biggest reasons that people don’t open up about their mental health is feeling ashamed or think people will react negative.
So I had some questions, I know it’s a sensitive topic so you don’t have to answer everything.
Did you get any positive response on talking about your mental health?
Did you get any negative response on talking about your mental health?
Did past experiences change the way you will talk about your mental health, if yes in what way?
Do you believe there is a negative stigma on mental health issues? If you think there is, how do you think this could be solved?
My personal experiences are that I only got good to neutral reactions on opening up about it. But I do feel like most people think negative about people opening up about their mental health. In order to improve this I feel like the only possibility is starting with yourself and being open about your mental health.
just for a note, I did not really get told about my diagnosis when I got them. I was just placed in spical school and with therapy. the help was more forced upon me without me actually knowing I needed it (though I had tried to commit suicide so it was pretty clear I needed some help)
Did you get any positive response on talking about your mental health?
yeah. well, not positive. because they are sad on my behalf. but I had a lot of support
Did you get any negative response on talking about your mental health?
not really. only online.
Did past experiences change the way you will do it in the future, if yes in what way?
I am not sure what this question means
Do you believe there is a negative stigma on mental health issues? If you think there is, how do you think this could be solved?
yes. especially with the older generation. they are like suck it up. and kinda think ill of people who go to therapy. meanwhile, I had friends where we discuss ours.
my mental illness was depression btw. I had been out of it in almost five years
I am also autistic. dyslexic and have had epilepsy (I have grown out of that) this three condition is not mental health illnesses btw
No truer statement has been said about mental illness. It’s up to the one with it to step up and agree to get help. Otherwise you’re forcing someone to do something they won’t do which drives them further away.
Yeah, sometimes it takes things getting to the worst point for you to realize you needed to change things. My sister did about the same thing. She wouldn’t take her medicine because she didn’t like how it felt. She also wa abusing adderal and xanex at the same time.
Yeah I did but only when talking about it with friends online. (In private)
I have alot to say about this because yes I’ve had people compare their problems to mine in a way that pretty much tried to erase what I was going through. I don’t know if they were trying to make me or themselves feel better but mental health is not a competition.
I don’t really open up too much because I’m scared people will think I’m jumping on a trend even though I’m not, I’m even seeing a doctor about what is going on in my brain.
Me and my Mum have discussed this and she admitted that what she said was wrong, I told her how I was feeling and she accused me of “quoting things from magazines” and other than that she used to imply she was the only one in the family with any real problems, because I have a nice home life my Mum tried to compare my life to those that are not as fortunate as me even though it doesn’t matter what kind of home life you have, mental health affects people differently. Of course there are some mental illnesses that can develop from your home life and the environment you are in but for alot of people those “issues” have been there since birth.
There still is, even though these days people are being encouraged to talk about their mental health. There are still people too afraid to come forward and say something because they don’t wanna let people down or be seen as “weak”. One of the worst things you can do is make a person with mental health problems feel like a burden.
Also telling people they don’t “look like” they have it or don’t “act like” they have it. My brother tries to imply this about me. He has known me my whole life and is used to my behaviour but there are certain things he hasn’t seen that only really close online friends know about. Even though a doctor has basically told me what it is I have, he still denies it.
I can put this down to misinformation, there is so much of it online it can lead anyone to believe they are an expert.
I’ve had it rough for the whole 2018 I think, with all kinds of extreme, like suicide attempt, hospital and shrink. I’ve been diagnosed with depression by specialist, and was taking proscribed medicine, that didn’t really help. I’ve been talking to people, to friends mostly, like seeking help kind of thing. It didn’t really help, and while it wasn’t helpful for me, it was very draining for people around me. I ended up with most of them turning away from me, and I can’t really blame them, although it made me bitter. What I see now is that actually a lot of people are pretty open about their mental health. It’s much easier here, then talking about it in real life, and it’s just as useless in my opinion. It’s easier to be “supportive” online as well, than in real life, because you don’t have to deal with the ugliest side of mental health problems. This superficial sharing is more of an attention seeking, from my point of view, and I don’t mean it in a mocking way. I understand the need. But I just think it’s not helping, instead making this attention like a drug of some sort. Until you have a reason to pull yourself out by yourself, nothing will help.
I know some depressed people, and I feel for them, cause I know how it is, but I try to either communicate less with them, or just avoid this topic. It is draining.
I’m much better know, although I have a lot of bad days, but I’m just trying to hang in there, making myself busy, trying to be productive. Action is more helpful than any kind of talk you might have, especially online.
Dunno how sufficient is my post tho, in regards to asked question in the OP, but yep.
@fcukforcookies Your post is perfectly fine in relation to the questions asked. I fully understand what you wrote down here. I hope you will continue to feel better!
@anon68003072 You are so right mental health isn’t a competition, like who is the most depressed if someone I tell starts doing that I stop talking to them about the subject basically. Also it’s stupid to think you can’t get any mental health issues if you have a normal life…
@liyahsdiamond short answer but really interesting. You are so right about 2 things, that you don’t have to tell certain people and that it starts with yourself and if you want help…
Pretty much when I talk to people that I trust such as my cousins who are around my age group and they would understand these kinds of things as they weren’t really aware of my behaviour. Like when I told them that I have Asperger’s Syndrome they understood this because they have seen how I behave and when they found out I was diagnosed with bulimia, they felt bad for me but thank goodness they were very understanding about it. They thought I was going to get institutionalised by the Eating Disorder Clinic but then realised that it was some kind of therapy for ED which I go to every now and then to update the nurse about my eating and mood. I know mixed race have nothing to do with this but they are more educated on these topics.
Very much! Mainly from people from a similar religion and culture as my parents which is why I keep to myself because they can be pure ignorant about these kind of topics. I even had former friends who were massively disrespectful just because I also have been diagnosed with depression by doctors that they were telling me to “get over it”. I knew they weren’t my friends anyway.
The sad thing is when I cut ties with people and I feel completely happy about them leaving my life, they come back to me to haunt me meaning when my parents or grandmother brings up certain people I had to escape from, it felt like they want me to not escape from the ordeal I suffered from. Especially when I make it VERY clear that I don’t want to talk about it.
Also, social media has damaged my mental health so I prefer not to use any of that. Especially when I would rather write things down in my diary or on a Word document.
Not too sure on this to be honest. I mainly keep these things to myself because I tend to find it difficult to open up to people because I may regret opening up to them.
I’d say that we should educate other people on mental health issues since there are people that are either ignorant or dismissive. But I don’t really want to use my mental health as a crutch since people may think I’m lying about it when I’m not and I have mentioned that I did feel excluded when I had friends who are autistic and they tried guit tripping me just because they’re autistic.
I know I’m going a little off the rail here but I’ll say this again…don’t demand respect just because you’re autistic. Respect is earned, not given.
It’s completely okay! I get it’s not easy to talk about things like this but you answered the questions anyway. Thank you for doing that and I hope your mental health will improve
i got diagnosed with depression & anxiety about a year and a half ago.
not really. i don’t like talking about my inner thoughts. with my previous best friend though, he was very supportive & wanted me to get better. that was really it. when i did talk about it with my current best friend, she was supportive. i haven’t done it since.
i suppose. my parents often… i’m not sure if mock is the right word but they always act like i’m a worse person for it. the depression is something i have never talked with them about. i don’t trust them enough to.
i’m more quiet about it. losing my trust for one person generally affects it for everyone & i get really scared of reactions.
yes. people need to be more educated about mental health & how it impacts lives, that it isn’t just a joke, & how to help people (NOT CURE THEM.)
