Mental health can be a very challenging and sensitive conversation topic, especially when it comes to talking about your own mental health. This puts us in a very vulnerable position, where we have to talk about something extremely sensitive and personal. Being put in that vulnerable position can also bring up a lot of unpleasant emotions that we’ll be forced to feel and process. Needless to say, it takes a lot of courage to talk about such an intimate experience. We also run the risk of oversharing and making others feel uncomfortable around us. Even though 1 in 5 people deal with mental illness, including anxiety, and depression; there is still a lot of stigmas attached to mental health. We may worry about being misunderstood, judged, or even ostracized. So it’s only natural to not want to share or talk about our experiences when we don’t feel safe to do so. However, not talking about our mental illnesses can also make us feel very lonely and isolated. Here’s why it’s important to talk about your mental health.
You will feel relieved
Bottling up your emotions about your mental health and well-being can be very exhausting. It could even make your mental health deteriorate even more. You can feel as though you are completely alone and have nobody to talk to. Your mental health is a big part of your life and opening up about it can be a very freeing experience. Sharing your experience and what you are going through can feel like a weight is being lifted off your shoulders. It can also help you feel less alone. Talking about your mental health with others is a good start to acceptance and the healing process.
Read more: Common Fear of Staring Therapy
You will normalize your mental illness
Putting your mental illness into words and talking about it out loud with other people will help you process your emotions and thoughts around your mental health. This process will help you look at your mental illness as something that is in you and a part of who you are. This means you can begin to look at it more like a friend than an alien. Normalizing your mental illness will give you a different perspective on it. It can help you develop compassion and understanding for yourself. Most importantly, you will no longer feel alone and isolated. Once you normalize your mental illness, you will begin to feel that you are like everyone else, instead of feeling like an outsider.
You will feel more in control
By choosing to talk about your mental health, you control how much you feel comfortable sharing and this gives you power. You choose and decide what parts of yourself to expose to others. Having that kind of power gives you the chance to create your own narrative. This way, you will tell others your own story and experiences without letting them make any assumptions. You will be in control of what others will know and see about your experience. This can be very empowering.
Yes, talking about your mental health and your emotions can be very tricky, especially because you may encounter someone who doesn’t understand it. At first, you might even make things awkward for yourself and the people around you. There is a chance that you will experience a reaction you didn’t expect. Some people might judge you or assume things that aren’t true about you and that alone can be a very negative experience.
Exposing the most vulnerable parts of yourself is truly a brave act and. However, once you get past the initial feelings and reactions, you are likely to feel more free. As you share your experiences, you will also feel less alone and more accepted by people in your life. It is also important to remember that every time you talk about your mental health, you help the process of destigmatizing mental health. You can set an example for another person who is struggling with mental health and feels misunderstood.
What are some of your struggles with opening up about your mental health?
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4 comments
Struggling with mental health often comes with such a stigma. This post is so important, because it challenges that stigma. I particularly like Kimia’s point that discussing mental health can help you to feel more in control of it. With my clients, I also see how minimizing struggles and comparing one’s own issues to what others go through can make it more difficult to begin the work towards getting better. Thanks for writing this post, Kimia!
This is a great post Kimia! It is so important to talk about mental health struggles, because that is the first step in overcoming them. I really connect with your point about how talking about what you are going through can help to normalize it, because you begin to realize that other people struggle with the same things. I also see how many people struggle to prioritize addressing these kinds of difficulties. Seeking therapy or even asking a friend to listen can be intimidating for many people, but it almost invariably helps the person feel better. Thanks for writing on this topic!
This is such a great post, Kimia. I really support the idea on informing people how dangerous it can be when we don’t talk about our feelings. Addressing mental health has been a challenge for decades and unfortunately we still have so much stigma in society about the topic. Reaching out for help is not easy, but the more we normalize it the more people we can help. Excellent topic!
Great blog, Kimia! I often hear people express concern about opening up about their mental illness for just the reasons you expressed. Although it’s gotten better, there is still such a stigma. It’s such an important reminder that opening up about these issues can be freeing.