Mental Health Awareness Month

It’s May! And that means it is Mental Health Awareness Month. This began in 1949 to bring notice to mental health issues and mental wellness. Mental health has been a controversial issue for centuries. In the 1600s, when people typically acted in the least bit out of the ordinary, people believed they were witches. People would blame any manner of unexplained ailments –physical or mental- on witchcraft. Much of the Salem Witch Trials accusations were from people “having fits” and people children mysteriously getting sick. It’s believed today that often those cases were mental illness or neurological diseases that they had no way of diagnosing back then.

Imagining being murdered for mental illness!

In the 1940s, Mental health facilities were quite rampant. People that were seen as unfit for society or the slightest bit “crazy” were stuck “in a home.” These mental health wards were wicked places. The staff was cruel and disrespectful to the patients, the conditions were uncouth, and death was not uncommon. Electroshock therapy was also greatly abused in the 1940s. Women were more commonly treated for depression and mental illness in the 1940s. The Electroshock Therapy would often make the patients completely catatonic. It has developed a great way in the past 70 years to become very effective in the majority of cases.

Although the acceptance and treatment of patients with mental illness has improved tremendously since the days of yore, we have a long way to go. There is still a great amount of job inequality, and the insurance stipulations for mental health are ridiculous. I just looked into getting insurance through my job, and as I was reading through the information, I was very disappointed. Firstly, there was a pre-existing condition clause. I am not eligible for insurance for 6 months because of my bipolar. Also, the insurance has medical exclusions for drug, alcohol, mental, and behavior treatment. So, it won’t even cover any of the things I need it to. This is the case for so many people looking for insurance and getting jobs these days. I almost started crying when I read through that. I get kicked off my parents insurance in a little over a year. I don’t know what I’m going to do. So many people with mental illness do not have insurance and have stopped their medications because they cannot afford them.

This is the injustice of our society.

The stigma in our society spans far more than financial. There is a great amount of persecution to those with mental illness. There’s the belief that people with mental illness “aren’t good enough” or “aren’t smart enough” or are “too crazy to function.” People look down on those with mental illness so much.

What are you doing to educate people? What are you doing to end the stigma? Do you love someone with mental illness enough to give them kind words?