How Is Your Mental Health?

Simone Biles, the most successful US gymnast of all time, withdrew from the Olympics saying, “I have to focus on my mental health.” In May, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open to protect her mental health. Winning at all costs leaves athletes vulnerable to physical and emotional injury. They may be pushed to a breaking point. I applaud people who know their limits and have mental health self-awareness.

According to mayoclinic.org, mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions, or disorders, that affect your mood, thinking, and behavior. These may include addictions and behavioral conditions such as eating disorders. A mental health concern becomes a mental illness when symptoms are severe and impair your functioning.

Many people are blind to the emotional and psychological aspects of humans. They just don’t believe mental illness exists. Come on now, people. I don’t see or fully understand cancer, but I believe it exists and is dangerous. Mental illness is not a choice, as if choosing happiness can alleviate major depression. You can’t pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. A supportive group of friends and family certainly helps but won’t prevent chronic illnesses, such as schizophrenia. Let’s stop romanticizing bipolar disorders. They don’t give you talent and creativity. Mental illness interferes with creativity more often than it enables it.

You may not experience mental illness, and your inner circle may not exhibit symptoms, but mental health issues are extremely common. They affect one in five American adults according to mentalhealth.gov. And one in 20 Americans lives with a serious and chronic mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. You may not readily see it because many people with mental health problems are highly active and productive members of society. Sadly, some of these mental illnesses lead to death. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the US.

People with mental health problems are no more likely to be violent than others, and in fact, are more likely to be victims of violence. People with poor mental health are most often productive, employed, and are not lazy or weak. Although 47% of Americans believe that seeking therapy is a sign of weakness, mental illness is not a character flaw or personal weakness. Most often, mental illness responds well to treatment.

Stigmas against professional psychological treatment often prevent people from accessing treatment. Many people who have a mental illness do not seek or receive treatment due to judgment, doubt, pride, fear, and misinformation. Stop the stigma. It contributes to the worsening of symptoms such as reduced hope, lower self-esteem, increased psychiatric symptoms, and reduced likelihood of completing treatment.

Stigmas are reduced by having contact with someone with mental illness. Individuals speaking out and sharing their stories can have a positive impact. When we know someone with a mental illness, it becomes more relatable.

Good for Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka for recognizing their struggles and making them public. They are helping to create a culture in which mention of depression, anxiety, trauma, and other conditions become as mentionable as diabetes, hypertension, and migraines.

I saw a Facebook post that read, “If you don’t make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness.” Most mental illnesses don’t improve on their own, and if untreated, get worse over time and cause more serious problems.

How are you, really? You may benefit from taking an online screening tool to better understand your psychological well-being. Online screening tools are meant to be a quick snapshot of your mental health. If you have symptoms consistent with a mental illness, a professional assessment is in order. Two such screenings are screening.mhanational.org and psycom.net. These are free quizzes. Don’t rely on them for an accurate diagnosis. Instead, take the results to a professional psychologist, counselor, or psychiatrist.