TO TELL OR NOT TO TELL? HOW MUCH SHOULD I SHARE ABOUT MY MENTAL HEALTH?

We live in a time where mental health issues are largely stigmatized. Yes, this has improved in 2023 more than in decades in the past. Many people are willing to open up about anxiety, depression, lonliness, isolation and similar symptoms following the Covid Pandemic. We have a largely shared experience as a country with these emotions. With the concept of the "new normal" the understanding of these challenges in processing isolation became fixated on the "return" to work, return to school, and overall return to our previous lives and previous functioning.

Yet, the mental health toll of the pandemic will most likely be something studied for generations. 

Pandemic aside, there are now and have been in the past, mental health disorders that have never been de-stigmatized. Some of these include Bi-Polar Disorder, Substance Abuse, Schizophrenia, Disordered Eating, and most trauma (rape, incest, violence). 

I am thankful to live and work in a time where mental health is becoming something we can talk about in culture, yet please don't forget the many living with stigmatized illness alongside others who now feel they can walk with less shame.