Next month, May, is the official Mental Health Awareness Month. Considering that nearly every month, week and day has some sort of national designation of celebration or recognition, they often lose significance.
But the one coming up is one that deserves a certain special attention.
Mental health is a difficult subject. Although it is recognized, scientifically, as a medical issue, many of us who are not in the medical fields see it as something different.
Depression is treated, socially at least, in a very different way than cancer or cystic fibrosis.
Whereas we sympathize with the millions of yearly cancer patients, those with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder tend to keep their problems secret out of shame, or are told just to “shape up” out of pure misunderstanding.
The tragedy is manifold. Not only do those with mental disorders suffer from the disease itself, but they also face shame, secrecy and alienation from others.
Many end up homeless and unable to hold a job. Their families may desert them, unable to deal with erratic or wild behavior, substance abuse, violence or a number of other effects.
So much of this could be avoided if we understood, as a culture, that mental disease is as much a physical, medical problem as any other condition.
That’s not an easy mindset to adopt. It’s hard to look at someone who behaves very differently than we do and remember to treat them as normally as possible.
It’s hard to remember that they are not in control of the way their minds work.
If someone with a mental disorder lashes out violently or inappropriately, it’s hard to separate our initial reaction from the way we eventually decide to deal with it.
But if we educate ourselves and become aware of the many facets of mental disorders, we can come to understand a very real and very fascinating part of the population.
We don’t tell our relatives suffering from leukemia or diabetes to “get over it.” The same must be applied to mental disorders.
Depression is more than just a bad mood. Those who suffer from schizophrenia deserve much more than being called “crazy.”
Autism hosts a variety of social issues, but also has given rise to some extraordinary people: among them, Dan Aykroyd, Temple Grandin and Satoshi Tajiri (the creator of Pokemon).
This is, of course, not to say that people with mental disorders don’t need extensive help to cope with their conditions. Many of them certainly do.
But the rest of us must recognize their worth as individuals, and see past their mental issues to the many positive attributes they have to offer.
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