The Stigma Of Mental Illness

Many people would say, “If you are depressed, then you need to snap out of it; think positive thoughts.  It is your own fault and you shouldn’t blame it on anyone else. It’s not the fault of hormones, chemical imbalances, or sad situations. It isn’t hereditary, and people could get over it if they tried.  The world is full of people who aren’t really sick. Depression isn’t a disease.” Everything that was previously said is absolutely false. However, this is the way that much of the world views MDD—“major depressive disorder” or depression and it needs to stop. I get frustrated by people who just “don’t get it”.

If people were more educated about depression and mental illness, they would be less likely to make snap judgments when faced with one who suffers from such. They would also avoid looking like idiots when they say the inevitable stupid comment. Overcoming the stigma of mental illness will help society as a whole become more tolerant and understanding of those suffering from it. But sadly, many people are just ignorant.

 

 

Not everyone is blessed with perfectly balanced brain chemicals. Millions of people are afflicted. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland stated, “I wish to speak to those who suffer from some form of mental illness or emotional disorder, whether those afflictions be slight or severe, of brief duration or persistent over a lifetime. We sense the complexity of such matters when we hear professionals speak of neuroses and psychoses, of genetic predispositions and chromosome defects, of bipolarity, paranoia, and Schizophrenia. However bewildering this all may be, these afflictions are some of the realities of mortal life, and there should be no more shame in acknowledging them than in acknowledging a battle with high blood pressure or the sudden appearance of a malignant tumor.” (Jeffrey R. Holland A Broken Vessel)

“Depression is living in a body that fights to endure, With a mind that continually tries to die.”

~Cynthia Fern

Many individuals go throughout life never being diagnosed with a specific mental illness. In days of long ago, little was known about mental illness. Those were the crazy “Aunt in the Belfry”, eccentric uncle, or nutty neighbor. Society was afraid of those who showed symptoms of abnormality. There were valid fears when determining the safety of their selves or families. Institutions for the Criminally or Mentally Insane were common. Those who exhibited the worst symptoms were sent away and locked up. Society did not have to deal with them, because they did not have to see them.

What of today? People watch in horrid fascination as a mentally challenged person walks along the street talking to an imaginary foe. Society as a whole looks away. Is it from shame? No, it is from ignorance. We fear what we do not understand. Mental Illness is not contagious. But those who suffer need love, compassion and understanding as much as, or more than, any other person.

Types of Depression

Some types of depression are called situational. A traumatic experience sends the brain chemicals and hormones into a sudden spin and the individual finds themselves unable to function in everyday life.  Such was the case when I lost baby Madison after six months of pregnancy to cord wrap; she died in-embryo. They banally labelled it Fetal Cardiac Failure.

I was unprepared for the combined post-partum and clinical depression that followed.  The world would call this “after-baby blues.” It was much more than the blues, and sent my mind and heart into a tailspin of pain and deep darkness. I could not function. I was now reliving the deaths of our first two children, twins named Mark and Mari, born premature some ten years earlier. Their loss and grief united with the recent loss of baby Madison, and felt to me, like hell on earth.

Eventually, some nine months later, the well-being of my two living children became stronger than my longing to lie in bed all day and mourn. I had two living children. I needed to get out of bed, get myself into therapy, and deal with it. It was a long road back until I felt “normal” again, but I would never be the same. No one who loses a child is ever quite the same again. Death and loss change us. There can however, be positive changes. For me that was becoming even more empathetic to the people in my life.

Get some Help!

Depression is largely treatable, and my L.D.S. therapist was amazing. But depression is essentially judged negatively. I did not want anyone to know how depressed I was, even though it was a daily fact of my life. I was embarrassed and mortified to feel so out of control. So I hid my depression, as so many of us do.

Depression takes on many forms and faces, and covers a magnitude of conditions. We need to be more conscious of them and be more understanding. We need to teach our children compassion and acceptance of it, as much as we teach acceptance for race, religion or gender.  If the population at large were more educated from a young age about the challenges and consequences of mental illness, then those who suffer from it would have more opportunities for help and understanding. The affected are all among us. The very learned, very rich and the very poor: depression shows no prejudice. It can be anywhere, and is in most families in some form. Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Elder George Albert Smith all suffered from depression.

Think on it a bit.

~Cynthia