Mental Health

I’ll get to doing my Top Ten Tuesday eventually this week (I know, consistency) but something else is weighing on my mind that I think is more important and needs to be addressed.

I have had close friends in my life who have struggled with depression, especially severe depression which has turned to suicidal ideations and even attempts. Thankfully, I don’t know anyone who was successful in a suicide attempt but I know it happens. I really feel for my friends who have struggled with and are currently struggling with severe depression. Now, I’ve been depressed and I’ve been down but I’ve never experienced a depression so severe I have looked to suicide as a way out. So I can’t truly understand how debilitating it can be. However, I do think that a major issue regarding mental health is the stigma still attached to seeking help for a problem. It doesn’t make any sense. If you break your arm or you have an infection you see a doctor. Why isn’t the same true when your sickness is mental rather than physical? Why is it still considered an act of weakness, like you can’t just grin and bear it? No one thinks that a person with a broken arm is considered weak for going to the ER. It’s unfair and frankly unhealthy for the stigma to continue.

I believe that depression (as well as other mental illnesses) has multiple causes or contributors. I know that brain chemistry plays a part, with serotonin levels and something that is calculable and graphable. However, I also think that a lot of depression comes from unresolved issues in life, whether they come from childhood or current experiences or worries about the future or whatever. We have many stressors in life, some controllable and taken on by choices made and some just as a part of life. I don’t believe necessarily that taking a pill a day is going to solve all of your problems – it definitely helps in some cases, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes things go deeper and need to be resolved before you can move on and move up. I think there are quite a few people in my life who could benefit from working through resolving issues and just learning more about themselves (myself included).  But in the end, it doesn’t matter how the depression occurs, once it does, it needs to be acknowledged and treated. There is nothing wrong with seeking help when you need it, it only reflects a different kind of strength.