May is Mental Health Awareness Month

[Ketkat]

It's a little bit late, but every May in America is Mental Health Awareness Month and its purpose is to raise awareness and educate the public about: mental illnesses, such as the 18.1% of Americans who suffer from depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder; the realities of living with these conditions; and strategies for attaining mental health and wellness. It also aims to draw attention to suicide, which can be precipitated by some mental illnesses. Additionally, Mental Health Awareness Month strives to reduce the stigma (negative attitudes and misconceptions) that surrounds mental illnesses.

Mental Illness can affect anyone for any number of reasons, and I really want to stress that if you are suffering from any mental illness whatsoever, you are not alone and people do want to help you. There are countless others who have been where you are, and you don't have to take it all on by yourself. That's an impossible task, and you are not at fault for the struggles that you're facing and it is not a negative action to reach out to others and ask for help. No matter how big or how small your problems feel, they are valid if they are upsetting you and it is okay to reach out for help.

This inforgraphic is startling, but those of us who have faced and are currently facing these conditions can tell you that this is true for most of us. Reaching out for help can be difficult, and it can make you feel vulnerable, but it's so important that you reach out to friends, family, or a professional if you can when you need help. Please don't wait to find help, we certainly would not wait 11 years to go to the doctor if we knew something was physically wrong with us. And if you aren't sure what kind of help you need, or where to go from here, please let us know. We're here to help you however we can.

Please take time to listen to these videos and if you recognize anything in your friends, please reach out to them and see how they're doing. The simple act of showing that you truly care about someone and taking the time to listen to them about what's going on can make a difference.





If you would like to read more about this I would really recommend checking out the National Alliance on Mental Illness' website here : https://www.nami.org/
You can also check the twitter hashtags #MentalHealthMonth #WhyCare #NamiCares for more testimonials and information.

Everyone is free to come join our community over in the Mental Health thread as well. We are not a substitute for professional help, but we'll gladly listen to anything that's bothering you and help how we can. https://www.resetera.com/threads/mental-health-era-ot2-community-and-understanding.95803/

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Great OP.

If anyone has questions on anti-depressants, I'm happy to share my experiences as I've been on quite a few off and on for the past 20 years.

 

[Deleted member 23850]

Yeah, but people still discount or ignore ADHD.

 

[TaySan]

Thank you for making this thread. I hope more people can be reached out if they need help.

 

[Deleted member 14377]

Every month is mental health awareness for me. I'M AWARE THAT I HAVE IT, PLEASE GO AWAY NOW!

But for real, I love all of you. Shit is hard, and I'm happy we're all still going. I'm going to be 28 next moth, officially diagnosed at 15 after years of frustrations. Several suicide attempts, self-harm put behind me for good, destructive habits towards myself and others as well. It's been hard and I have a difficult time accepting some of the horrible things I have done as a result. But I'm not that man anymore. I've made so much strides to becoming healthy and happy, loving myself.

It's still a struggle, not going to lie. But as long as you keep at it, and reach out. It truly does get easier to manage.

Shout out to all the people who don't deal with mental health, but are loving, understanding supports, regardless. You're all amazing and I'm so thankful for your patience and understanding. I know it's difficult.

 

[thesoapster]

I made a friend recently. I would see him at a particular bar from time to time. We talked about music primarily. There was a decent time gap where I didn't see him, and when I did, we talked like we normally do. At some point he mentioned that he had moved back home with his dad, that he had been diagnosed with bipolar, and that a few months ago he attempted suicide. He's being treated and is doing better for sure, but when he told me about this I feel like it gave me an opportunity to talk about my own experiences with bipolar disorder.
I know he's receiving treatment, but I offered up my contact info so we could plan our meetings rather than just run into each other by chance. Since then we've chatted back and forth some and met up once. It makes a difference having people that you can openly communicate with over facing isolation.

 

[Weiss]

Yesterday was my first day back in class and I had major anxiety problems being there. Constantly judging myself and worrying about my future, my leg was shaking almost uncontrollably, lots of heavy breathing, that kind of thing. Today I drove there and couldn't get out of my car because I couldn't bring myself to walk inside.

It sucked. It's the beginning of the semester and I already feel like I'm starting to crack again.

 

[Fuchsia]

Yesterday was my first day back in class and I had major anxiety problems being there. Constantly judging myself and worrying about my future, my leg was shaking almost uncontrollably, lots of heavy breathing, that kind of thing. Today I drove there and couldn't get out of my car because I couldn't bring myself to walk inside.

It sucked. It's the beginning of the semester and I already feel like I'm starting to crack again.

Click to shrink...

I know that feeling all too well. We can do this!

 

[Robin]

That 11 year statistic is a doozy. It can be so fucking hard taking that first step but getting help is worth it in my experiences.

 

[Android Sophia]

That 11 year statistic is a doozy. It can be so fucking hard taking that first step but getting help is worth it in my experiences.

Click to shrink...

That statistic is a huge reminder of how long it took me to make the first step (nearly 20 years...)

But I'm glad I did. It was the best decision I ever made.

 

[DarKaoZ]

Its also my bday month!
But yeah, I'm all up for Mental health awareness, I was depressed for almost 2 years. It took a lot out of me, I went with a Psychiatrist , took medication and tried my best to get out.

I can say I'm not depressed anymore, but it left scars. Sometimes I get downs, but they are manageable and might last only 1 or 2 days. I try to help anyone I see who is depress, if I can help a bit, I try to help.

 

[Deleted member 23850]

I really hope that they give ADHD the respect it deserves this month. I'm so tired of people acting like it's some trivial fly-by-night inconvience. It's fucking not.

 

[Ketkat]

I really hope that they give ADHD the respect it deserves this month. I'm so tired of people acting like it's some trivial fly-by-night inconvience. It's fucking not.

Click to shrink...

I'm sorry to hear that they haven't been showing it the level of respect that it deserves. I know that living with ADHD isn't as easy as a lot of people make it seem, it feels like it and OCD often get lumped together into weird categories of disbelief by people.

 

[Zeneric]

Just bumping to spread mental health awareness.

Here, my problem I have since I was a kid when people started noticing something wrong with me. I'm now in 40's:

my semi background:
Married. Househusband. 2 step children (both now adults - wife's). 3d modeler/texture artist for 2nibble.

My mind rambling endlessly with toxicity (always yelling at/insulting me with muffled but clear/understandable voices).
The sightings on top/bottom and left/right sides of my eye sight are always changed to something negative with people in them causing me to obsess on/overanalyze them - twisting them into even more worst negative thinking possible (insulting/yelling at me). Feels like the whole world is against me (internet, inside home, outside home, everywhere).

my routine everyday is this:
wake up with clean mind (no rambling, no toxicity, not delusional).
1-3 hours later as i think/overanalyze more as my eyeballs rotate more grabbing the visuals into my brain, printing, twisting words/visuals into something entirely totally unrelated else. my brain thus starts rambling nonsensically, gradually.
at night time is when my brain is at its worst state, until i go to bed.

I didn't know I had schizophrenia until a few days ago (when i 100% accepted that i have schizo). Everyone always told me I had schizophrenia since i was 15-17. I didn't believe them. I believed in my schizo instead. I see my shrink every 2-3 months. and has been since 20(?) years ago (multiple shrinks). I always told them that i didn't see things that're not real, and i didn't hear things that're not real. I didn't lie. I was confused.

I'm deaf. I didn't know what schizo was like in deaf people. the common knowledge of schizo (at least here in north america) is this: whole eye sights changed to something else (hallucinations). and audio voices in head. I don't have these. So, "i'm not a schizo".
My mother has schizo. I assumed, cuz of my mother being schizo, people automatically label me as a schizo. And because of the shit environment i grew up in (she wasn't treated for her schizo). So, I rebelled.
My current and previous shrinks always asked "can you see things that are not real? can you hear voices that are not real?". They asked too generally. I was too literal.

Accepting myself as a schizo was like finding my soul.

Contacted my shrink yesterday for an appointment asap. to talk more. she'll likely diagnose me as a schizo and put me on treatment for it.

 

[aerie]

We have a more recent thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/ma...s-i-found-on-neurodivergence-adhd-etc.715642/

Please feel free to repost your message there, Zeneric, if you like.