Mental Health Stuff

We live in a culture where mental illness is more taboo than anything else. Very few people feel comfortable talking about it, let alone admitting that friends and family have an illness. After the Aurora cinema shooting, we wanted to talk about gun control, not mental health. When our soldiers come back from Iraq, we want to talk about getting them jobs, not therapy for their PTSD. I think what is hard about mental illness is that its manifestation is more blatant and obvious than sometimes physical illness can be. Yet, it is somehow taboo to offer one’s support based on mental versus physical illness. Can we say,”Hmmm…I think you are a bipolar” any more than we can ask someone if they are diabetic, have blood pressure, or thyroid problems? Is being manic depressive worse than being diabetic? What if you are a diabetic alcoholic with manic depression? One school of thought is that none of this is no one’s business. Whether I may have a mental or physical illness is not for anyone to know except me and my medical practitioners. But who, of any of us, go to the doctor to seek help for any little thing that feels wrong? And who of any of us go to a doctor to talk about our mental states? Who of us go to a doctor and say, “I think I drink too much, I get depressed, wreck havoc on my friends and then binge at the local Taco Bell afterward…”. Nope. We fill out our boxes on our forms in the doctor’s office pretty run of the mill and moderate. And even if we go to the doctor, we end up with a plethora of medications. Not any help in lifestyle support, psychological support, or anything related to who I am as a whole person. We end up on drugs that I can’t even spell, let alone understand what they will do for me. But we trust that someone will (?). Healthcare is the biggest debate in our country. It will determine who our president, the person who leads our country, will be. It will determine how we will care for the millions of retiring baby boomers, their children and grandchildren. Yet, I can almost bet that very few people actually seek healthcare, yet alone mental healthcare, and understand either. Wanna bet $5?