Mental health is an important thing that people need to discuss. Mental illness adds an extra layer of difficulty to one’s life and many people don’t seem to understand that.
October 7-13 was Mental Illness Awareness Week, a week that the U.S. Congress dedicated to educating and increasing awareness about mental illness and to dispelling the stigma and misguided information surrounding it. I could not think of a better way to advocate for it than to share my own story and ways to help others.
Photo by: Kendra Washington
I’ve been unconsciously dealing with anxiety my entire life, and just summed it up as being incredibly shy in social situations or social interactions of any kind. Back then, it was normal for me to experience high levels of anxiety and brush it off as just being a shut-in or not liking being with people I didn’t know well. However, coming to college opened my eyes to just how much I deal with my anxiety, and my newly discovered mild depression, on a daily basis. I wasn’t just anxious around people, but just doing daily social interactions that wouldn’t seem hard but were difficult for me. I’m anxious to call people, set up appointments, to interact with people I didn’t know. I went to get diagnosed, and my anxiety was summed up as Social Anxiety Disorder.
Having Social Anxiety Disorder, or SAD, is fairly common, and it means that “everyday social interactions cause irrational anxiety, fear, self-consciousness, and embarrassment” (via Mayo Clinic). It is a chronic mental health condition in which social interactions cause irrational anxiety. However, this is only one side of the spectrum of anxiety disorders.
Having anxiety or an anxiety disorder isn’t just being nervous in social situations and shying away from people. It’s not just occasional feeling anxious or worried. That isn’t the same as suffering from anxiety. Diagnosable anxiety is ongoing and interferes with our daily lives and doesn’t seem to stop. I speak of my own mental illnesses because the stigma surrounding these illnesses is large and misunderstood.
Roughly 18% of the US population has an anxiety disorder, and it is the most common mental illness in the US. There are multiple types of anxiety as well, not just Social Anxiety Disorder or Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Other conditions include, but are not limited to, Panic disorder, Major depressive disorder, Phobic disorders, Separation anxiety disorder, OCD, PTSD, and many others.
Photo by: Kendra Washington
It is important to be aware of yourself and others around you who may suffer from a mental illness. While mental health may seem invisible to most, that doesn’t mean it is not real. As Daniel Howell tweeted, “…don’t struggle in silence [by] yourself and make sure to reach out to the ones you love and say you are there for them, it could make all the difference.”
As elementsbehavioralhealth.com likes to advocate:
“Through awareness and treatment, people with anxiety disorders can lead healthy, happy, productive lives free of excessive worry and fear. Unfortunately, as many as 30 percent of people with anxiety disorders never seek treatment. If this is you or someone you love, seek or encourage treatment. There may be no such thing as a worry-free life, but a life spent in a continual state of anxiousness doesn’t have to be.”
To those who are suffering from a mental illness, know you’re not crazy, worthless, lazy, or any other derogative word. You are loved, you matter, and it’s okay to know you’re not okay and need help. Don’t be afraid to reach out. Please take care of yourself!