This is a speaking piece I wrote for my English exam so may not read as well as a written piece but I feel that it contains some important messages that I wanted to spread.
Romanticism of mental illnesses.
1 in 10 people will suffer with a mental illness.
Mental illnesses are now widely accepted in our society and it is no longer unusual or looked down upon for a person to seek help from a medical adviser or counselor. Because of this, we feel that as a society we understand more the psychological turmoil that these people suffer through and so have more respect for them instead of edging away from this unknown condition as it is in our human nature to avoid things we are uncomfortable or unsure about.
Latest developments such as social media can be useful ways of communicating with others to help overpower the struggles they can cause and allows people to come together and support each other which can be an important contribution to a person's recovery.
But, are mental illnesses now seen as desirable?
People aged between 15 and 16 suffering with depression nearly doubled between 1980 and 2000. This may be a result of large numbers of celebrities now coming forward and opening up about their own personal experiences with mental illnesses. This can have a huge influence on people who see these celebrities as their idols and aim to be like them so they may see mental illnesses as something to strive for. An example of this is models who become anorexic so they can be super skinny to show off all of the latest designer outfits as our society has now laid down the idea in everyone's mindset that thin is good and fat is bad.
Mental illnesses have now in some cases been used as attention-grabbing devices making people abuse the severity of the illnesses and fake them in order to manipulate and gain sympathy from others.
Is this because mental illnesses are becoming the new 'normal'?
This is not true as they are an illness, not something to be jealous of! Those people actually affected by these illnesses are actually the least likely people to open up and share it with everyone. These illnesses are a lifestyle and an individual's response to their life, not an act that they put on to gain anything!
If a person self harms themself is it a show of how bold they are and that they have the courage and commitment to go through with it or is it a total loss of self-control in which the person has lost all sense of rational thought?
I personally think that it is the second option as I believe that if a person feels so unhappy that they feel like the only escape for them is to punish them self and hurt them-self then they can't be thinking rationally.
As I said before, social media can be used to help and support people through their ongoing problems but it can also have a negative influence on them making their issues much worse. An example of this is through the use of 'Proana' websites. These websites are specifically designed for sufferers of anorexia to come together and give each other advice on how to eat less and deal with hunger and basically without realizing it, how to harm yourself until things get really serious or in some cases too late. A quote saying "I am jealous of those people with the self-control to be anorexic" strongly shows the severe misunderstanding of the effects and mindset of this illness and how low our society is stooping. This links back to the celebrities starving them self to be thin and the desirable impact that this is having on people.
It can be argued that this new 'understanding' our society has is making it easier for people with these illnesses to open up about it and seek the help they need but does a false understanding really help them or will they be looked down upon and assumed that it is fake and they they are just doing it for the attention.
In conclusion, do you really know what having a mental illness is really like and could you recognize a person's true cry for help?
Questions
Do you think that it would be better for our society to go back to not knowing much about these mental illnesses?
No, I think that our society should be as aware of these mental illnesses as I believe it to be much better than people avoiding them as they are uncertain as to how to behave around them, but I do think that we should start again and relearn what we believe that we understand about mental illnesses as I do not believe that we actually do understand at all which consequently doesn't help the person who is ill and in some cases can make it harder.
Are some mental illnesses more understood than others?
I believe that some mental illnesses such as anorexia and depression are much more recognized than others such as schizophrenia but I do not believe that they are understood more in society as I believe that what people think that they understand about these more common illnesses are not entirely accurate.
If a person is anorexic is it their own fault through wanting to be thin?
No, I believe that their are many factors that contribute towards anorexia and that it is a very serious illness that has different reasons behind each individual. For example, a common contribution I believe to impact this illness is that if a person has something tough going on in their life then they may blame it on themselves and by starving themselves and depriving them of basic need such as food they feel as though they are punishing them self and as they blamed it all on them they feel a sense of satisfaction that they are in control as if the issue is now resolved.
If you had a mental illness would you want people to know as you believe they would be accepting of it?
I personally would keep my mental illness to myself and close friends and family unless it had an impact on me otherwise. I would do this as I would be too concerned about society coming to the wrong judgments about me- thinking I am fake or an attention seeker when in actual fact they have no clue what is going on in.
Well this is kind of different, Thanks for reading.
Remember, getting help is not a sign of weakness, it is a show of strength that you are helping yourself to feel better
Kaitlin
