Mental health : awareness is great, but action is [even more] essential

source: The Guardian
published: 15 May 2018

It’s mental health awareness week, 2018. And that’s good. It’s important to be aware of something that affects literally everyone, and that a quarter of the population struggle with. It’s weird that anyone wouldn’t be when you put it in those terms, but that does seem to the case.

Perhaps the term is a bit misleading, or not specific enough. It’s not exactly mental health that people need to be made aware of, so much as the fact that mental health can, and regularly does, go wrong.

And when someone’s mental health does falter or fail, they should receive the same concern and help that someone with a more obvious “physical” ailment should get, not scorn and stigma, as often happens.

This is where awareness helps. If you end up with depression, anxiety, OCD or any other condition, it can be hugely debilitating, often consuming your daily existence. Having someone, be they a family member or total stranger, dismiss it outright or accuse you of “faking it” or similar can only make it worse, compounding the problem.

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