On Mental Health and RepressionsteemCreated with Sketch.

in #health7 years ago (edited)

In a world of dumb stigmas the stigma around mental health has to be one of the dumbest. We all go through shit on a daily basis. We’re human beings. We’re in a perpetual state of social and emotional osmosis with our surrounding environments. Every interaction and experience we have shapes us whether or not we're aware of it at the time.

So why do people get squeamish or dismissive when the topic of mental health gets brought up in conversation? Perhaps they don’t want to hear about the struggles others are going through because they’re afraid it will remind them too much of themselves - it will hit too close to home. Mental health is something the crazies deal with in institutions and in the offices of psychiatrists. Spoiler: we’re all crazy.

The mental health stigma makes sense in the context of a culture of repression. The conditioning is to sweep it under the rug, to hurry along, to medicate, to numb out. Sensitivity is seen as weakness. But sensitivity defines human experience - it’s one of our greatest strengths. We need to be cultivating it as such.

I’m not talking about ‘taking things personally’ sensitivity, although that’s often what sensitivity gets boiled down to. The sensitivity I’m referring to is less egoic, more infallible. A visceral sense of feel. A compulsion toward authenticity. A perceptive quality that informs how you experience the world. A certain innate resonance with or understanding of things. In its freest form it’s a force that begets creativity and love.

But when we start repressing sensitivity, disregarding how feel, we get ourselves into a whole rack of trouble. We cut off our intuition. We kill our ability to empathize. We become less like humans and more like zombies. We become disembodied. Our personal health and societal health suffer in all dimensions.

The field of psychoneuroimmunology studies the mind body connection and it’s impact on health. The science actually isn’t controversial. It’s clear how mental health and physical health don’t exist in silos. Emotional centers of the brain are physiologically intertwined with the immune system, the nervous system, and the hormonal apparatus. They can’t be separated or treated in isolation. It’s one system.

When we repress emotions and lack healthy outlets to express ourselves, the situation compounds upon itself. As Dr. Mate mentions in the video above, a recent study showed that over a 10 year period women who were unhappily married and didn’t express their emotions were 4 times more likely to die than women who were unhappily married and did express themselves. The non-expression of emotion was associated with a 400% increase in death rate.

Many of us become so acclimated to the culture of repression that it feels totally normal. We feel that in order to keep things together our circumstances mandate that we keep quiet and stay in line. But, in the words of Jiddu Krishnamurti, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” We tell our spirit to ‘hush’ to cope with circumstances and expectations and in doing so we make ourselves sick. Repression itself becomes the disease.

What’s the cure?

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Sometimes its as simple as knowing its "ok" to be unwell . As once that crazy label goes on , it haunts a person from there on in. Less labels and more empathy is surely needed :)

Excellent post. I have recently gone through a really relevant experience. As an EU national in the UK I have been confronted, over night, with a rejection of my value as a human being. This has led me to suffer stress, anxiety and I have doubted my self-worth in the face of continuous narrative saying I am less worthy of safety and good quality of life based on my nationality alone. What is specially relevant is that I made this clear to my colleagues, expressing my distress at the fact that British nationals (and I am generalising here) are not expressing support proactively making us feel deeply unwelcome, and most of our interactions involve being told we are exaggerating, we should stop worrying, because we will be ok. This has resulted in my work colleagues putting a complaint to management, who told me I must stop talking about it because it is a political issue and has no place in the workplace.
This is, to add depth to the problem, happening in a healthcare environment, where the dissection of body from mind continues to be deep seated. We need to move, as a society, towards much better understanding and tolerance of feelings that others experience but that we do not understand. And stop trying to 'help' by telling them it will simply 'be ok' instead of acknowledging it as a natural process and 'their' experience.
Thanks for the thought provoking post. Upvoted and followed!

Hey. Appreciate it. Thanks for sharing your story here. Writing is a great medium to air out your truth. Looking forward to following your journey here on steemit.

Thanks for the follow jasonsnow, look forward to seeing your journey too. :)

Excellent! What is the cure? Press the button to reset all the values our society has been cultivating ever since 'private property' came to existence. And, of course, bringing with it a whole set of principles that places value on power, beauty, wealth etc... there is no space for the 'weak' in this kind of world! But, it is a world that breeds insecurity, sadness and so forth. At a personal level, however, the alternative could be not buying into all this, which can be done by means of acquiring knowledge and understanding - the ultimate pathway for a free, healthy state of mind.
Great post @jasonsnow :))

@jasonsnow One can help restore mental health function by reconnecting to the universe through raw veganism and meditation. Namaste :)

Excellent post. I absolutely find honesty restorative.

I love this guy so much! <3

Yeahhh he spits the truth!

I am Groot! :D

Increase the capacity for learning and recovery and repressions will diminish. Like a backlog of work needing to be done without enough materials on hand to finish the job. Nutrition is the answer. I am your messenger

This post received a 2.9% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @jasonsnow! For more information, click here!

He seems like a doctor who is actually a healer.

He is! He does retreats and such. Highly recommend checking out his books. When the Body says no is a great one to start with.

Thanks for the recommendation, I just bought it!