I want to talk to you about mental health and share with you all the stuff I use to
cope with the challenges of life but I can't do that without sharing a secret with you
first.
That's me in eighth grade and I hated myself.
I felt weird ugly like I had no future.
I didn't tell anyone.
I didn't get help.
I stayed silent.
Why?
I knew I had a problem.
But I refuse to believe I was depressed.
Mental illness was bad and something to push away and there was no way I would ever seek
therapy because only crazy people went to therapy.
This is the stigma of mental illness.
Stigma is a part of culture.
It's made worse by unfair laws and maintained by excluding people who are diagnosed with
a mental illness.
I hate talking about stigma even the word just sounds so dirty in my mouth like stigma....blah!
I also hate it when people say fight stigma.
I mean what does that even mean?
Round one Fight!
Haduken!
It's not enough to fight against something.
You need something to fight for instead of fighting against stigma.
We need to focus on fighting for mental health.
This is a part of the video where I need to define exactly what mental health is.
Mental health.gov has a definition which is mental health includes our emotional psychological
and social wellbeing.
It affects how we think feel and act it also determines how we handle stress relate to
others and make choices.
It's really hard to talk about all of this because all this stuff is there in the background
and this is what I hope we can change on The Psych Show.
Work together to promote mental health.
No we have to be heroic about mental health just right there when I said heroes you probably
thought of superheroes and I love superheroes.
I love Captain America.
Wonder Woman.
I love Black Panther Wakanda forever but superheroes don't really show us real heroism at least
not in the movies.
Let me show you what I mean.
I'm going to look up the definition of a hero A person who is admired or idealized for courage
outstanding achievements or noble qualities.
Right well we have to figure out is courage.
What exactly does courage mean that's a defining thing of a hero.
The ability to do something that frightens one.
That's what we never see in the films we don't see them being anxious being afraid struggling
with it and still doing the right thing.
I'm always scared of sharing my mental health journey on YouTube because all this stuff
is in the back of my head.
Well that and internet trolls but I know all this is based on ignorance and if we can find
the courage to face these fears and celebrate mental health it becomes easier for others
to do the same.
This is how we going to change things by bravely sharing our stories like Rachel Starr live.
What is it like to be schizophrenic?
If I could sum it up into one word one word it would be confusion.
Have the courage to look inside and realize you might need help.
If we're concerned about a friend having the guts to ask them if they're okay.
You haven't really been your self lately.
Are you okay?
Help others learn how to cope with difficult emotions.
I always come back to three fundamentals of battling mental illness and fight fight fight
for better laws more funding for research and new treatments that reach large groups
of people.
This is what we're going to help each other.
Stay heroic in the face of fear.
This is how we're going to fulfill the promise I made to you last week when I said I want
us to build a community that will lift each other up and celebrate mental health together.
How are you going to celebrate mental health.
Let me know in the comments below.
Special thanks to my patrons for making this episode possible and I want to welcome my
new patrons Lauren K. BrainCraft and Aaron F.
If you want to help me make the psych show and get exclusive behind the scenes access
in return check out Patreon.com/ThePsychShow.