I've been planning these posts for a long time, and the reason it's taken me so long is simply because I wanted to be able to dedicate a significant amount of time and energy writing them, as I feel it's important to 'do it right'. I'm aiming to keep these posts frequent, hopefully every Sunday but I'm going to give a heads up now and say that sometimes they could be delayed as these are not the sort of posts I want to rush.
Secondly, I will likely be going into a significant amount of detail in this series, so if there's anything that you find upsetting or are struggling to read, please don't feel that you have to force yourself to read the whole post. I'm here if any of you EVER need someone to chat to don't hesitate to message me on Twitter- my username is @neverlandhan.
I'm going to start off with some statistics relating to mental health, in case there's anyone reading this who maybe doesn't fully understand the significance of these issues.
In a year, as many as 1 in 4 people will experience mental health problems. This means that pretty much everyone will either have experience these issues themselves or have a close friend or family member who does.
Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health problems- these account for around 80% of cases. At present, around 3 in every 100 people have depression.
In my opinion, one of the most frustrating and upsetting things about mental health today is the stigma surrounding each and every illness. 9 in 10 people with mental health problems have experienced stigma and discrimination. I firmly believe that mental health is equally as important as physical health, so these figures shock and upset me. Although times are slowly starting to change and people are beginning to talk about mental health a little more, it's still very much a 'taboo' subject.
The majority of people have little or no understanding of mental health. This prevents them from talking about it as much as they should, and it also means that those who are suffering are less likely to ask for help as they don't know that they can get help. Regardless of setting, good information and understanding about where to get effective help and treatment for mental health problems is invaluable when a crisis occurs.
That's why I've decided to write these posts- I'm not expecting them to go viral but I hope that the information I share in these posts will be shared to help as many people as possible- at the very least I want to try and raise more awareness and make mental health less of a taboo topic.
I know I'm not the best at keeping up with posts and for that I apologise but I will honestly be trying my best with this series. I start university next month so things are gonna be a little hectic but I've allocated a time slot each week to try and write and upload each post.
The Samaritans run a free 24 hour helpline offering confidential support for people experiencing feelings of distress or despair. Their number is 116 123.
