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| Elizabeth D. Johnson Administrative Assistant |
As
far back as I can remember, I have always been worried. Worried about where my
mom was if she was late coming home, worried about what happens after we die,
worried about my health, my pets, my friends – the list goes on and on. In my
second year of high school, things started to change and I constantly felt that
I was in a dream and that things weren’t real. I wasn’t able to go to school
because, while on the way there, something about the way the clouds looked made
my chest tighten and I wasn’t able to breathe. I couldn’t shower for longer
than five minutes because being alone with my own thoughts was too terrifying,
and I was afraid to look in the mirror because I no longer felt like myself. My
mom took me to our family doctor, who couldn’t figure out why I felt this way
and guessed it was vertigo or something in my ears. After some trial and error,
it was suggested I see a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with Generalized Anxiety
Disorder. At the time, I was terrified and didn’t know who else had this, if I
was normal, or if I was going crazy.
Throughout
my young adult life, I have learned to cope with my anxiety and panic attacks,
but I still go through bad episodes. Through medication and therapy, I have started
to feel less trapped inside of my own mind. What I wish I knew back then was
how common this is and that one in five adults suffer from mental illness and
one in five children aged 13-18 have or will have a serious mental illness.
(1). Despite the fact that these illnesses can decrease a person’s quality of
life, individuals living with a serious mental illness face an increased risk
of having chronic medical conditions. These conditions can be hard to treat for
someone who is already struggling with a mental illness, not to mention costly.
Nineteen million Americans suffer from clinical depression and anxiety
disorders, so you would think that these numbers would equate to a large
support base and a general understanding of mental illnesses. Unfortunately,
this isn’t the case, and many people don’t believe that mental illnesses are a
physical disease despite the brain being a vital part of your body. People
still shame others who come forward with their illness by calling them lazy or
unmotivated, and say that they just need to get over it. It is important that
when speaking to someone with a mental illness, you ask yourself “Would I say
this if it were the flu?” (2). If someone were to wake up one day and have a
panic attack, they wouldn’t be able to call out of work or get a doctor’s note,
even though driving with one is dangerous and almost impossible. But if someone
woke up and started to vomit or had a fever, they wouldn’t have an issue
calling out or getting an easy prescription from the doctor for whatever is
ailing them.
Because
such a large portion of citizens suffer from depression and/or anxiety
disorders, seeking treatment should be easier and less frowned upon. Some still
view treatment as being personally weak; my favorite example of this is Tony
Soprano, who was almost killed by his own uncle because it was discovered that he
was on Prozac and seeing a therapist. Getting help for anything that hurts your
body, whether physical or mental, is important. Being vocal about your illness
and seeking help is brave. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for
people aged 15-24, the third leading cause in youth, and each day an average of
twenty veterans die by suicide. For those who haven’t experienced a mental
illness, it is vital that you try and think of it as any other disease and not
something that can be slept off or ignored. And for those who do experience it,
remember that you aren’t alone and that help is out there.
Crisis Text Line:
Text “Home” to 741741
Text “Home” to 741741
Crisis Text Line serves anyone, in
any type of crisis, providing access to free, 24/7 support and information via
the medium people already use and trust: text
Sources
Cited:
