Removing the Mental Health Stigma
Can we please remove the stigma around mental health?
Perhaps, when we do, we could more comfortably see the interconnection between our minds and spirits, and our physical health and disease.
Many perceive that connecting these elements means “blaming the victim” for their physical health. Which infers that we are, consciously or subconsciously, blaming people for their mental and spiritual health, in the first place—which our culture certainly does.
But, while we have the ability to shift our health, the elements that contribute to disease of the mind and body are not something for which to blame a person.
Many elements contribute to our emotional and psychological health: intergenerational trauma (which includes traumatic memories passed on genetically), lack of bonding with a parent, loss, our own traumatic experiences…the list goes on.
Would you blame him if his grandmother was tortured in the Holocaust, or if she was adopted, or if his sister died when they were kids? These are experiences beyond our personal control, and they affect our resiliency.
All these factors contribute to the health of your psyche.
And your psyche contributes to BOTH your mental and physical health.
How does it serve us to dismiss this interconnection?
Perhaps, the greater question is how does it serve the medical industry to separate our health into individual symptoms for which they can create numerous costly pharmaceuticals?
I urge you to take responsibility for your health and well-being without judgment.
When you do this, you have the ability to shift your daily experiences, and hopefully your actual health, as well.
It takes asking the hard questions and perhaps, even more, accepting the harder answers.
Asking ourselves the questions of what we have experienced and how might that have affected our reality—our spirits, our minds, our bodies, our day to day lives. Many of us will need support from a professional, during this process.
Our mental and emotional health is not something to be ashamed of.
I truly believe that the stigma around our mental health, is the thing that prevents us from seeking the support and treatment, that we need, to ultimately maintain our physical health and well-being.
In this great time of change, that we are all experiencing—in politics, in our climate, in race and gender—may this be one of many things that we address to bring greater balance to our personal lives, and therefore our larger planet.
Imagine what worldly transformations could exist if we each took a look at our internal state and addressed that, first and foremost.
I invite you to ask yourself this: What can I do, today, to make that a reality?
