Breaking The Silence: (Addressing The Stigma Around Mental Health)

Written by Andi Bazaar | Sept 3, 2022

"Our country is in the midst of a mental health and addiction crisis, worsened by decades of stigma and political neglect. I’ll bring a new approach, rooted in commitment and community to tackle this crisis with the urgency it deserves."

“We need to start thinking of mental health beyond the stigma conversations and talk more about policy actions.” — these words by our favourite writer Doctor Oliver Schofield is what has caused a significant paradigm shift in the focus of our campaigns for the next few months.

No, we won’t stop talking about the stigma that plagues mental health neither are we going to stop educating everyone about the myths and misconceptions surrounding mental health but it’s time to do more.

We believe that when clearly conceptualized, a mental health policy can co-ordinate essential services and activities to ensure that treatment and care is delivered to those in need while at the same time preventing fragmentation and inefficiencies in the health system.

It is important to call on our leaders to integrate mental health policy into public health policy and general social social policy because mental disorder causes a heavy burden for the society at large and it is of intrinsic value as is physical health.

As an advocate for mental health awareness, Doctor Oliver Schofield feel like it’s important for him to continue being honest and open with the small platform he have here to help break the stigma. So that being said, here’s a short story about where he’s at right now....

I realized a couple weeks ago that I’m going through a pretty rough bout of depression right now, I’ve been dealing with depression and anxiety since I was diagnosed with major depression disorder years ago.

I haven’t felt like myself the last few months, little things have been setting me off. I’ve really lost my temper at work a couple times, this all really started a few months leading up to our office moving.

Our office moved further from my house, my commute almost doubled. I had no control over this, one thing I’ve learned about my depression is that it’s triggered by things like this and me seemingly losing control.

Our pending move took a toll on me, I was having some health problems and went to the doctor and he told me it was all a result of being too stressed out. It made sense, I really was stressed out.

When we finally moved I was relieved I just wanted it to be over, for a while the change was actually good. It was nice to be in a new place then it started to go downhill fast. Once again, I realized I wasn’t in control.

The last couple weeks have been particularly tough, I’m so in my own head right now. I’m paranoid, I have total self-doubt. I’ve lost all self esteem, just today one of the top executives at my company told me how great he thinks I am and my first reaction was “he’s lying.” Whoa!

So this is what I’m dealing with. I want to make a few things clear...

1) To be honest, it’s the last thing I want. I suffer badly from social anxiety and putting myself out here like this is not easy. I’m doing this because sometimes it probably seems like my life is awesome but just know, I’m human like you.

2) I’ll be ok, I know I’ll be ok. Unfortunately I have been dealing with depression on and off for a long time, so I know I have the tools to come out the other side. The first step is recognizing it, my wife and I had a long talk about it tonight and she’s so supportive.

3) If you’re going through something like this, you’re not alone. That’s the whole point of this story, you aren’t alone. The job, the money, the wife, the friends... none of it makes you immune to depression.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone. That’s why I’m putting this all out there. To hopefully help, you’re not alone.

THE SHAME AND STIGMA OF SUFFERING FROM MENTAL ILLNESS

This is: José Schenkkan

As you all know I’m outspoken about a lot, but somehow I still feel shame when I publicly speak about being depressed or anxious.

I worry that people will think that I want attention. I remember being in my 20s thinking dangerous things like, “if you really want to kill yourself, then stop talking about it and do it.”

Of course I was talking to myself, me who could laugh it off. Me, who was strong but there is no shame in being sick with anything. Whether it be cancer, HIV, a cold, syphilis, headache etc. So, why give meatballs illness a power it doesn’t deserve: secrecy. It stays in the dark and festers and it makes you its plaything.

In the grand scheme of things I know I’m not going to change anything, I’m not delusional. I try not to be a egocentric but I do believe that talking about openly does do work in diminishing the power that the shame has over you.

Shame to even go out and get help and when you do get help perhaps through an intervention, you are ashamed of accepting it. I get a call from the crisis line every other day to make sure that I’m okay, to make sure that I haven’t killed myself yet and I’m ashamed of it.

I know that this shame doesn’t make any sense but I’m still unlearning, as a person who has been diagnosed with severe depression, generalised anxiety and ADHD I have a lot on my plate.

I’ve gone to the extreme of trying cold water therapy because my mental health has never been this bad, I’ve been catatonic before but this is sinister because I can still laugh while I plan my suicide.

I’m not looking for sympathy, I’m sharing this to do my bit in normalising the conversation about mental illness without guilt or shame.

THE SHAME AND STIGMA OF SUFFERING FROM MENTAL ILLNESS

This is Timothée Freimann schofield

“The only way to break down the stigma around mental illness is to talk about it even especially those of us whose careers can be impacted by that stigma, I have an anxiety disorder and this is my story.”

In hindsight, I've always had it but it became particularly severe about 10 years ago following the birth of my son. It was a difficult birth, he wasn't breathing when he was born and afterwards I began to have severe anxiety and flashbacks.

Soon after, I had my first panic attack. I was on my way to work and began to feel like I was having trouble breathing. My fingers started tingling, I broke out in a drenching cold sweat. I pulled the car over and felt as if I was going to black out and then as suddenly as it came on it went away and I went to work stupidly because I thought it could have been a heart attack. When I went to the ER after work they told me it was a panic attack and encouraged me to find a psychiatrist.

I began to have these attacks regularly and in between them had severe anxiety, like many people I hesitated to get treatment. I was ashamed, I thought “strong” people didn’t have mental illness. I thought I could overcome it without talking to anyone through shear willpower.

I became very good at hiding them, I had one in front of my classroom and the kids didn't notice. I had one on the floor of the House of Delegates during a debate and nobody could tell despite my breaking out in that awful cold sweat that accompanied them.

During one legislative session I remember pulling over on the side of 50 or 97 almost every night to have my evening panic attack before driving the rest of the way home, I considered not running again for the legislature because it is such a high stress job.

After 2 or 3 years of this with the encouragement of my ex-wife, I finally sought treatment and began to learn how to deal with the illness. I saw a therapist who worked with me on cognitive behavioral strategies, I found a medication regime that helped.

As a result of this combination of the cognitive behavioral strategies and medications it's been almost two years since my last full on panic attack, it hasn't gone away it's a chronic disease but I've learned to manage it.

I learned over time that I should no more feel shame about it than should a person with another chronic health condition like diabetes, I eventually learned how incredibly empowering it can be to talk publicly about it. When I did the reaction was mixed.

I had a colleague tell me that I shouldn't share my "secrets" publicly, needless to say I lost a tremendous amount of respect for her after that conversation. Others were surprised because they said I always seemed so calm, well yes because of overcompensation.

The best reaction was from my brother who has his own challenges with "schizo-affective disorder" and who told me that if sharing his story too could ever help anyone with mental illness, then I should do it and then he gave me a hug. He’s a great guy!

The worst was the person who told me that if my constituents found out, I would never be elected again. I said if that's true then so be it because we need to end the stigma and you know what? I have never once had a constituent tell me they won't vote for me because of it. *not once

So if anyone reading this is struggling with any kind of mental illness, know this: "there is hope, if you seek help you can find it. you can find a way to manage your illness and you can live your life."

I am a fairly successful state legislator and university adjunct who is raising a fantastic kid, I'm flying again to see amazing places after 10 years of avoiding getting on a plane because of anxiety. You can still achieve your goals.

So if you need help, take that first step and seek it. There's a lot of us out there who've been through it and we've got your back.

I want to talk a little bit about how people who are struggling with their mental health may appear to the outside world and why some things contribute to stigma even when we are not aware of them, I often complaints from families or partners.

They would say this person no longer listens is absent, always on their own and may take it personally. Let’s go through why that happens and what explanations we have for these shifts, first of all social withdrawal is one of the main symptoms of many forms of psych issues.

Social situations (yes, that includes family and loved ones) takes a lot of energy, we don’t notice that for the most part when we are doing well but when we start struggling. Every word, listening to conversations, etc takes so much energy and can be hard to maintain.

This is why they may get irritated and lash out, it is because the energy is gone and they can no longer keep up the mask of normalcy. It is important to respect their space and boundaries while they are going through this hard time, don’t force them to do things they don’t want.

Also, if you talk to someone who is struggling with their mental health they may seem absent or like they are not caring at all. Well, from the perspective of the person who is struggling their concentration is on their thoughts, their bodies, checking for panic attacks.

There is no concentration left to give to our environment, this is why memory loss happens too (in part) because they are not connected to their environment. They don’t remember much of what’s going on around them, also it may seem that they have no compassion.

This is further from the truth, their emotional capacity is not working well right now they are going through a lot. This is going to be one of the hardest periods in their life, it is important to lower expectations and give them the support they need to recover.

Someone who may be very compassionate may not have that ability anymore (temporarily) that doesn’t mean they are bad people, they are just focusing inwards because of what they are going through. It is important to remember these factors.

Again, these are not excuses. This is just how mental health issues operate, it is not something they can control. So please be patient if a friend or loved one is going through this, don’t take it personally. They are going through a crisis and making them feel guilty is bad!

A SPECIAL THANKS TO:

• Oliver Schofield (Consulting)
• Seth Gryffen (Consulting)
• Henrie Louis Friedrich (Analyst)
• Clayton Euridicé Schofield (Editor/Journalist)
• Timothée Freimann schofield (Photographed)
• In appearance, José Schenkkan