Transcriber: Như Hoàng Ngọc Tâm Reviewer: Sanntint Tint
How many people do you know who lives with mental illness?
Perhaps a friend or a parent, a co-worker or a celebrity you admire,
Maybe you live with mental illness or maybe you will in the future.
I myself live with what my doctor once called
a complex collection of co-morbid mental disorders.
Therefore, I practically grew up in therapy,
and I grew up with a wealth of the mental health stigma on my shoulders.
I have lived the majority of my life with the inescapable feeling that
I am a failure because my mental health has hindered me to do well in school,
and to integrate into the workforce.
I worried for years about my inability to cope in society,
feeling like a failure because I couldn’t live up to
the productivity standards set by this modern world.
But never once did I ask myself,
am I a failure or have I been failed by a society that is not accessible
for those of us with chronic disabilities and mental illnesses.
Instead, I did what I was taught to do.
I grit my teeth.
I got a very demanding full-time job in childcare.
At work, I hid my mental illness symptoms.
I performed as the role of a neuro-typical, well-adjusted person
until I brought myself out and got fired.
After that, I decided to take a risk,
and I embraced all the parts about me that made me unemployable.
I put all my focus into online activism.
I became a mental health advocate, an outsider artist,
and I used my paintings to make other people who hurt like me, feel less alone.
Art has always been healing to me.
It’s been a band-aid, a life raft, a megaphone, a love letter to myself,
and a way to make sense of feelings so complex
that they cannot be put into words.
But what’s been even more healing?
It has been to vulnerably express my mental health through art,
and have so many people resonate to what I’m going through.
It's both freeing and empowering to share the ugly parts of mental illness
and peel away those layers of internalized shame.
And it’s been eye-opening to discover how common my feelings are
and how many people see themselves in my story, and how I see myself in theirs.
I have been a part of many conversations about mental health online,
and a lot of those conversations focus on things like self-care tips
or what kind of brain chemistry causes people to become mentally ill.
But I think that is only the tip of the iceberg - that is mental health.
The thing is, we live in a society that can feel in many ways intolerable.
We are drowning in internal and external stressors
like heightened academic expectations,
grueling work schedules, social media toxicity, loneliness.
The list goes on.
And when we talk about mental health,
we often speak of it in the context of brain chemistry,
and genetic symptoms. and diagnosis,
but I haven’t seen as many conversations about mental health
through the lens of class and material conditions.
Mental illness is a burden in communities who struggle with poverty,
social alienation and depression.
Modern society requires community engagement to function well,
but the human race is not a monolith.
We are unique individuals with varying needs, strengths and opportunities.
But many of us lack the resources to be able to thrive in our modern world.
Many of us live even struggle to survive day to day.
In mental health business online,
I’ve seen how it’s normalized to point fingers and preach self-care
to people who truly need community care, healthcare,
people who don't have the finances for therapy or treatment,
nor the time for allocated daily self-care.
We place responsibility on the individual
to treat their mental health with self-care, breathing exercises,
face masks and bubble baths.
But I think the responsibility to offer mental health support
should be put on the leaders in our countries.
People are dying from suicide.
The World Health Organization estimates that
every 40 seconds someone loses their life by suicide.
And while not everyone afflicted with mental health issues
have suicidal thoughts, depression and other mood disorders
have been systematically recognized
amongst the most important risk factors for suicide.
But I strongly believe that most suicides are preventable.
After 09/11, for example,
America changed the way they conduct travel to strengthen safety.
There was a problem so the people at the top actively worked to come up with
and implement solutions. But while thousands are dying of suicide every year,
would it not make sense to prioritize making health care accessible for all.
I think it needs to start with teaching about mental illness in schools,
According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness,
suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in youth ages 10 to 34 years old.
50 percent of all lifetime cases of mental illness
in the US starts at the age of 14.
70 percent of youth in juvenile justice systems have mental illness,
and most people do not receive intervention for about 8 to 10 years.
By implementing mental health education in schools,
we could reduce the risk of mental illness and suicide,
provide more access to support and treatment,
reduce the stigma attached to mental illness,
and address and identify mental health issues early
and teach children ways to cope.
Show them that it’s OK to reach out for help.
In 2018, there was a bill in the US called
the Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act that would have provided
more training to increase the numbers of school counselors in low income areas.
The bill died in committee.
That is just one example of politicians working against
the interest of public health, especially when it comes to the working class.
The conversation about mental illness needs to start in early childhood.
And government leaders around the world
need to demonstrate that mental health is actually a priority in their agendas.
We can have Mental Health Awareness Month, Suicide Prevention Day,
World Mental Health Day,
but then days and months does not equate to actual individual mental health care.
And to make individual care accessible for all,
we must work together to change the status quo.
The disproportionate wealth divide in our world is
a huge detriment to people with mental illness.
The lack of support for marginalized communities is devastating,
and the lack of mental health education in schools is
a huge disservice to future generations.
I think mental health is still so stigmatized
because we have not been educated about our own mental health.
People feel so helpless, so ashamed.
They see no other way out than suicide.
For many people, it’s easier to lie and say you have a dentist appointment
than to tell your employer that you’re going to therapy.
We feel justified in calling in sick when we have a cold or a fever,
but when we're having mental health problems,
it's seen as a personal flaw rather than an illness.
When I was a kid, I'd go to my yearly physical doctor exams,
but never once was I asked how I was doing in regards to my mental health.
Having therapy be this elusive, exclusive things sends out the message
that therapy is not for everyone and that is simply false.
Every single person could benefit from therapy
because every single person has their own unique mental health.
When I talk about my mental health,
there are people who tell me
“You have to pull yourself together because everyone feels that way.”
Well, if we all do, doesn’t that going to show
that modern society is incompatible with our mental health needs.
Where is the increased funding necessary to solve this global health crisis?
The difference between suffering from mental illness
and living with mental illness is access to mental health care.
Thank you.