Freefall: “The Freedom of Choice” (Chapter. 2)
Written by Andi Bazaar, Clayton-Eūridicé Schofield, Hugo-licharré Freimann and “introducing” Callum O’Brién | Feb 2, 2024
"All of us will have at some point in our life a struggle with our mental health, doing our best to remove the stigma now means that it will be easier for those that come after us to have access to therapy and support with less barriers. We deserve to be happy!"
Mental health stigma is so painful to live with and it is even worse when it comes from our own families. Parents, you need to start believing your kids and supporting their mental health especially since a lot of it can directly stem from parents themselves.
I have seen people go to therapists/psychiatrists/doctors who give them a diagnosis after a few minutes, it is irresponsible because those labels stick and stay in our medical files for so long. We need to be more responsible and consider the stigma that comes with the labels.
Medications carry so much stigma from thinking they will change our personalities, to getting addicted to them. Some of the most misinformation happens with meds, however they are also the only solution for so many mental illnesses like bipolar and schizophrenia.
By making it harder to access these meds, we stop people from functioning normally who would. Meds certainly have some downsides such as side effects in the first few weeks and benzodiazepines can be addictive but the rest are not addictive and are also life saver for so many people.
I really love how much more open we are about our mental health, it is not something I expected to happen so soon. We are trying to break that stigma with style and honestly, it is so beautiful to see. Let’s keep up this amazing work and just normalize it even more.
I truly have hope for our culture and society, there are many people working tirelessly to break stigma on mental health and no longer continue the cycles of trauma and control. It is an uphill battle but I am fully confident that we will get there!
I want to talk about medication stigma and why it is so big in our culture. Given that most of our families have a pharmacy in their homes for every ailment imaginable, why are meds for mental health so rejected? Let’s take a look.
First of all, when we are prescribed medications for something it becomes more real even with therapy, our loved ones can simply convince themselves that we are going for self-improvement or an indulgence of the person attending therapy. The denial can continue.
It is much harder to continue that denial when meds are involved, it makes it more real and it also makes it more physical. Parents and loved ones cannot deny that as easily, therefore it is much easier to simply refuse it or try to stop people from trying it.
Then we have the argument that it is addictive, that’s because they may see online or in some people that they may take it for years but that’s not because it is addictive it is because it may be needed for that long. It is easier to simplify and say it is addictive.
The stigma is also an avoidance in terms of taking responsibility, if you recognize that your child needs meds in order to get better and you were a big source of that then it becomes harder to deny it. That guilt can be too much to deal with.
Then there is the fear of others, we are scared that the person taking meds may run into neighbours, extended family, members of the community when they go to the pharmacy or if the meds are just visible in the house because then others may judge us.
Fear of being judged can be very powerful especially in our culture, where what the group thinks of us can matter so much but denying a loved one an opportunity to get better simply to keep face is not a good reason. Medications literally save lives.
Then there is the responsibility that healthcare providers have, so many of them believe in that stigma and try to sway people who may needs meds away from them especially if they haven’t received adequate mental health training in their medical degree.
We all have relatives who are doctors and some of them may be too ignorant about mental health to give it much importance, they may be less likely to give medications as options because to them it likely much less important.
There are so many other factors that can contribute to this stigma, but these ones are what I encountered the most when it comes to reasons why people were discouraged to explore medications to improve their mental health.
While it is true that meds may not be for everyone and that just like everything else, there are pros and a few cons, it can be lifesaving and help us get out of severe mental health issues, allowing us to function enough to get therapy and go back to work/school.
“I thought I would take some time and debunk some of the myths or sayings that our parents or loved ones may use that could actually be harmful to our mental health instead of helping us, stigma is something that is so deeply embedded in our culture.”
That means that advice and the way we are raised often includes a great deal of it “it is all in your head” (not really) mental illness has physical symptoms, digestive issues and a host of other symptoms that are not just in our head.
“Mental illness is a sign of weakness.” (not even one bit).
- Technically, mental illness happens for a host of reasons from biological, environmental, trauma induced. Just like a flu is not a sign of weakness or strength, neither is mental illness.
“Just be grateful, others have it worse.”
- One of the most useless piece of advice. Technically, someone always has it worse, how does that impact my mental health right now besides making me feel even more guilty than I already was.
“See the positive in every situation.” (not every situation is positive.
- While it is true that we can overlook positive things and not register them when we are depressed, we can’t create positive situations out of thin air either.
“You are so dramatic!” (this one is especially non-validating)
- Living with anxiety sucks
- Living with depression sucks
- Living with trauma sucks
If you haven’t lived through that agony everyday, to the point where you just couldn’t take it anymore you can’t comment on “drama."
“Thinking something will make it happen, keep only positive thoughts in your mind."
First of all, we have 80k thoughts a day. No way are all of them positive. Also, if we could make thoughts a reality, we would all be able to summon anything we want by thinking about it.
That’s it for this edition of stigma in common sayings, I will probably do it again in the future with other common phrases people use in everyday life.
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!
Let’s about mental health, specifically how it is portrayed in the media and how that can contribute to its stigma and add to the reluctance for people to seek treatment. There are so many stereotypes and even glorification of mental health in the media.
First of all, it is understandable that Movies or Tv Shows want to simplify certain processes in order to make them easier for the screen or for people to understand. However, in many cases it borders on outright stigmatization or the other extreme romanticizing it.
- Even simple things like playing ominous music or scary music to depict it, trying to dramatize it to the point where we feel like the character we are watching is no longer the same that they have “lost” their mind, whereas this is not how depression/anxiety operates.
- The glorification of abuse is also very prevalent. There are too many movies where the protagonist is an abusive and awful human being to people around them, yet they are portrayed in a way that creates sympathy for that person (i.e. they are just misunderstood).
It can perpetuate cycles of abuse because we are led to believe that it is not their fault they are abusive or violent, that something will help them change and their heart will change. So we keep waiting for that moment and adding to our trauma.
“Using mental health issues as a form of manipulation is also very often portrayed in movies. How many times have we seen someone say if you will leave, I am going to kill myself but they show it as a sign of endless love as opposed to a form of manipulation.”
It leads us to believe that we can use our mental health issues to manipulate people around us and that it is okay to do it. Furthermore, suicidal ideation is often portrayed in a way that is romanticized for example for those who have watched the movie: “The Last Samurai”
Or the new Netflix show “13 Reasons Why” suicide is so romanticized there. In The Last Samurai it is seen as a way to keep our honour intact or a way to save ourselves whereas in real life, suicide leaves trauma and a deep grief in those left behind even when it comes to therapy, it is not portrayed well. We have people going laying down and speaking while someone is behind them writing on a notepad and asking questions, this is not how it is at all. Therapy is a process that is active on both sides.
There are dozens of approaches, many of them include written/oral exercises, drawings, back and forth communication, challenges. They can done sitting, standing, indoors, outdoors. When many people see how therapy is portrayed in the media, they may think it is useless.
Indeed, why go to therapy pay so much money just to lay down and talk. It minimizes a real science into something that is laughably simplistic and ridiculous, it came to the point where I can’t stand therapy scenes in many movies and tv shows.
Furthermore, even when protagonists are going through really hard times no one in the movie suggests therapy or help they don’t show those options properly and this isn’t just for old movies and tv shows. It happens with recent ones and surely ones that aren’t even out yet.
While the trend is moving towards better portrayals of mental health issues and many people are trying to do the right thing, it is still incredibly frustrating that multi-million-dollars productions can’t set aside a little bit to hire mental health professionals who can help.
Lastly, I want to touch on the romanticizing of drugs. So many characters who are addicted are depicted as just being able to kick out their addiction because they found love or someone said the right sentence and suddenly they are free from that addiction.
- In real life, addiction takes a long time, medications and sometimes inpatient treatment in a centre to help curb it. It is a constant struggle daily to stay sober and a battle that takes a while before it gets easier.
- With addiction being portrayed like it is, no wonder people seem to think that people who suffer from addictions are just lazy and need to just quit it because it seems so easy in the way we are told in the media. There are so many ways where the media actively contributes to this stigma.
- This part only scratches the surface, but I hope that it helped you make sense of some of it and to help you be very skeptical whenever mental health scenes are depicted in the media we consume.
Thank you to Mark J. Levstein’s for asking me to write about this part, it is an interesting topic.
Also, a big thank you too to the wonderful Emmanuel Piero-luccá Schofield’s for asking me to address this topic, hope you all have a great weekend x
A SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Andi Bazaar (Writer)
- Mark J. Levstein (Co-Editor)
- Yevhn Gertz (Director of Photography)
- dr Oliver Schofield MD (Consulting)
- dr Seth Gryffen, MD (Consulting)
- dr Khaan, MD (Consulting)
- Timothée Freimann schofield (Photographed)
- Clayton Euridicé Schofield (Editor/Journalist/Co-writer)
- Scott Wynné Schofield (Publicist)
- Henrie Louis Friedrich (Analyst)
- Jwan Höffler Conwall (Art Interior Design)
- Hugo-licharré Freimann (Ass Director/Co-writer)
- Shot at GQ’s Studios by José Schenkkan and Benjamin Schenkkan Joseph
- In appearance by "Callum O’Brién" (Model/Co-writer)
- In collaboration with "The Me You Can’t See UK" (TMYCSUK) / @tmycsuk
