No one wants to think about it. No one wants to talk about it. Somehow, our mental wellness, or lack thereof, is not equal to our physical wellness. If you hear that someone has cancer or heart disease or even the common cold, you immediately feel badly for that person and want to know how he or she is handling the illness and what treatment is being done.
But if someone has a mental illness, it is a different story. Depression – just think happy thoughts; go for a walk; put on your big girl panties and get over it. Anxiety – just take some deep breaths; you know that isn’t logical; you’re being irrational. Most people don't know how to respond.
An illness is an illness. Some occur because of our genetic disposition/family history, others because of environmental or chemical exposures; and, yes, some because we just don’t take care of ourselves. We live fast paced lives filled with fast food. We work at sedentary jobs and don’t exercise. And these all apply to mental illness as well. Just because you cannot take an x-ray or run a CT scan to determine the illness, does not mean that it is not real.
It's okay to talk about it.
