Mental Health Week 2024 runs until Sunday. I intended to post earlier in the week, in part because I’m overdue for a post, but I also wanted to do something to mark this awareness-raising week on the calendar. Mental health too often carries a stigma, and the only way to get past that is for all of us to be honest about our struggles and talk about them.
I’ve struggled with my mental health for most of my life, and have been on and off medications for the better part of 35 years. I am now on a cocktail of meds that work for me, and I will be on them probably the rest of my life, as long as I have a GP to prescribe them (Canada’s shortage of primary care physicians is a topic for another day). The precise cocktail was formulated by my Toronto psychiatrist, who retired from the business years ago. He was a mad scientist, and I was lucky to find him, and lucky that he accepted me as a patient. I have no doubt that he saved my life. And the Babies. You all think I saved them? They saved me right back.
I’m also no stranger to social anxiety, which has ebbed and flowed over the years. I’m mostly good these days, but the immediate years following my move back to the country were a challenge. I’ve never been treated for it; I’ve developed my own coping mechanisms over the years. But trust that I’m the stereotypical swan: calm and serene on the surface, but furiously paddling away below. At least on the days that I’m not a crazy hot mess even on the surface – those still happen.
There are a few friends and family for whom this information will not be a surprise – some of you have been there since the beginning waaaaay back in the 80s. Your support has been more helpful than you can ever know. But this will be news for a lot of you, I think.
What’s the point of this post? I’m not entirely sure, to be honest. I just wanted to own my truth, and contribute to the conversation. I was also inspired by the bravery of the author of the book I just finished, for telling her story. And then I got angry: it doesn’t require bravery to reveal a diagnosis of high blood pressure. Why do we treat mental illness any differently? It’s right there in the name: ILLNESS.
We need to end the stigma and shame around mental illness. It starts with each of us.
RC Country Life 
Thank you for sharing this, Rhonda. I totally agree with you that we need to end the stigma against mental illness and normalize it. Schizophrenia has been passed down from one generation to another in my family. Thankfully, it missed me but got my late brother who suffered with it all his life. It breaks my heart to think of how he suffered. I, myself, battled depression for years- bet you didn’t know that did you? It amazes me how many people do suffer and never tell anyone because they are afraid or embarrassed to share. So thank you again for being brave and giving me the courage to share this with you. Ann
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Thanks for sharing. I’m pretty sure that most everyone has something going on in their life, either mentally or physically.
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