Essays on Mental Illness for Students and Children.
Mental Illness: We should not be ashamed to talk about it (625 words)
Mental illness does not plague only one percent of the population, it’s everywhere and we should not be ashamed to talk about it. The stigma around mental health makes it so much harder for people who really need help to come forward and ask for it.
It really salts my apples when I hear comments like, “Oh did you hear XYZ tried to commit suicide, I am so sad they didn’t succeed.” or my personal favorite, “People who commit suicide are cowards. They are taking the easy way out. Why can’t they think about how their family/friends are going to feel? They’re so selfish.” Why can’t anyone think about the fact that someone was pushed so much to the edge that they could see no other way out, other than death? Also, about them not thinking about the effect their death could have on their loved ones, usually when someone tries to commit suicide, they are usually the ones who are so tired of not being heard/ understood, how can you expect them to think of what others will feel?
There is no way you would have any idea what the person is going through. The world can be a cruel place and death may be the only option that makes sense to them. If you are aware of what the individual is going through and you think that it is not serious enough, I am here to let you know that no one asked for your approval of their reasons. If you are going through the same thing they are and are wondering that if you can handle it with little to no problem, why can’t they? Let me remind you that no two people are alike, no two people have the exact same experiences, and no two people react to situations in the same way.
Some myths about suicide that I’d like to debunk are, firstly, ‘once a person has made a serious suicide attempt, that person is unlikely to make another.’ It is actually the opposite; they are most likely to do it again within the next 30 days. ‘If a person is serious about killing themselves then there is nothing you can do.’ Feeling suicidal is often temporary, if you hear someone constantly talking about killing themselves or even if they make a comment about it once, it wouldn’t hurt to actually take them seriously and talk to them about it.
If you think you are unable to deal with it effectively, there are professionals who can help them. ‘Talking about suicide is a bad idea as it may give someone the idea to try it.’ Suicide is definitely a taboo topic in this country and those have suicidal thought are often terrified of talking about it with anyone in fear of what they might say. Talking about it actually helps; it is a huge relief to those who are experiencing these feelings to be able to talk about what they are experiencing. This also increases their chances of getting help and overcoming their problems.
‘People who talk about wanting to commit suicide are just attention seeking and shouldn’t be taken seriously.’ (I personally have never understood the term attention seeker as a bad thing, if you are in need of attention, you will seek it and if you are not getting enough attention from loved ones naturally you will try to fulfill that need elsewhere, and however you can. It may cause some hindrance in social relationships but it’s not something one should be shamed for.) People who talk about wanting to commit suicide must always be taken seriously. This may be their way of calling out for help and giving them this attention could probably save their life.
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