While the world has started accepting all the diseases and nothing is a taboo anymore, mental issues are still treated as something rare and unexplainable. It is generally kept secret and people hide their problems from rest of the world. Usually people get freaked out when someone starts talking about their mental health issues. This is because people still don’t understand it yet. Dr. Mehmet Oz tried to explain mental illness to make people aware of the condition.
In his blog, Dr. Oz mentioned some points on why it is necessary for the people to be aware about mental health issues. He mentioned the following points:
1. Stop Mental Illnesses from Getting Overshadowed by Stereotypes
Stereotype is one of the main reasons why people with mental health issues fail to ask for help and keep suffering within their mind. Mostly, when a person is diagnosed with some mental health condition like depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder, they hesitate to share their diagnosis with people around them because of the fear of getting judged by them.
The society stereotypes mental health issues as some form of taboo. For example, people with schizophrenia are often portrayed as people with split personalities and are often described as violent by the present media. Similarly, people with bipolar disorder are described as people with confused opinions, and people with depression are generally referred to as sad people who just don’t give up on being sad.
It is important to bring the stereotypes out of shadows so that the people can understand how painful these conditions are for a person who is suffering from them. They can understand how much sad a person feels in depression, what it feels like for a person with schizophrenia when they can’t differentiate between reality and delusions, and how exhausting it is for someone with bipolar disorder when they are always emotionally confused.
2. Help People Open-Up About Their Mental Health Condition
One of the major problems with mental health issues is that people often hide them. They don’t open up about their condition and keep it to themselves, suffering within their own mind. This is where the things go wrong, and their condition gets worse. One of the most important part of recovering from mental health conditions is opening up about them.
So, what is the reason behind people not sharing about their mental issues? The answer is fear. People often get scared about getting judged by the people when they open up about their condition. Also, a person with mental illness thinks that if people will know about his/her condition, they’ll distance themselves from him/her.
But, what people with mental issues don’t understand is that they need to let others know about their condition. Because this is the only way they can get better. Also, they never know where they can find help. Talking to others may provide relief when they talk
3. Find Support and Get a Proper Treatment
When people hide their mental illness, they compromise with the chances of living a better life and recovering from their condition. Hiding the problems in the mind and battling with them gives no solution. A patient with a cardiovascular disease needs help from a heart expert. Similarly, a person with mental issues needs help from a mental health expert.
People with mental illness can find support and get the right treatment by telling others about their conditions. Until a person with mental health issues don’t open up about their condition, they can’t get right help at the right time and complicate their condition even more.
4. Live While Recovering
When people are diagnosed with a mental condition for the first time, they often feel hopeless and wonder whether there is a life possible with the condition. But, if they get the support at the right time, it becomes possible for them to get treated and live a healthy life. There are various methods that are used for the treatment of mental conditions. This include psychotherapy, medications, and support groups. Also, the treatment is a slow process and it takes time for a person to recover completely.
Thus, it is required to live while recovering from mental issues. This will help others who have been diagnosed with the condition but are still scared of getting help. They can set an example for people trying to recover from mental health conditions.
