Facts you’ve heard before:
- 20% of Canadians will personally experience mental illness
- Suicide is the second largest cause of Canadian young adult
deaths
- Mental illness can be treated-not cured
- 10-20% of Canadian youth will experience a mental illness or
disorder
Now lets put a different light on those facts and make them
a little more personal.
Take that 20%, now say that you have 4 good friends,
statistically either you or one of your friends has or will have a mental
illness. Maybe it’ll be depression and it will dehibilitating for that person for
years.
Amanda Todd, some people believe she did the world a favour
by killing herself but she was not alone that year…nearly 4000 other Canadians
took their own lives. I am also appalled that people think a young girl taking
her life could be a service to anyone. It’s nothing but tragic.
Some mental illness’, like seasonal depression, are
literally only around for a season. These are temporary but still not curable
via some drugs. I take Prozac. It does not make me happy. It only helps me
regain a little control over my mood and gauge where I am at mentally. It has
not cured my depression but it does help treat it. As far as I am aware, mental
illnesses as a whole are not curable. That does not mean there’s no hope; maybe it’ll go away on it’s own or maybe you’ll have to get into treatment but
either way, there’s still helpful things around to aid you in that journey.
This 10% range bothers me because it’s pretty wide to
estimate how many youth deal with a mental illness; so I came up with my own
via my school. ¼ of my school (aged 12-17/18) identifies as having a mental
illness. That actually is leaning beyond the 20% tops estimation but it is just
a sample. That statistic means that I can walk down the hall and it’s possible
that every 4th person I see is struggling just like me. I get
messages every week from different people at my school asking about my life or
for tips to help them cope with their own struggles. Now, maybe it’s something
about my school that makes it a breeding ground for this stuff but I have to
believe that it’s not THAT different from most other schools (certainly not a
full 15% different).
Nothing about mental illness is a joke. I’m not just
spinning my wheels here for fun. I am talking about real problems and real
people. None of what I share is made up. None. I am proud of who I am, despite
how I have/do struggle and that I’m able to share it with others. I want other
people to have that opportunity too but the stigma around this topic makes it
REALLY hard to do! People don’t seem to understand how serious and real these
struggles are.
If you ever have any questions about mental illness or one
of these posts feel free to email me at the_war_paint_blog@yahoo.com