It doesn’t make up for 364 days of treating mental health like it’s bullshit
Every year, on the 10th October, the world “comes together” in support of World mental Health Awareness Day. And I’ve put “come together” in quotation marks for the sole reason that the entire day is, quite frankly, bullshit. And before you roll your eyes, close the webpage and head to twitter to write some scathing review about that “girl who hates people with mental health issues what a bitch”, just hear me out. And then maybe go write a scathing review, up to you.
Just to clarify, I’m not trying to say that mental health is bullshit, or that people who struggle with it are bullshitting, or anything like that. At all. Roughly one in 10 people suffer from anxiety or depression, and one in 6 adults has been diagnosed with a mental disorder at some point in their lives. These stats only get worse when you look at students: one in four students suffer from mental health problems, over 70% of which is related, again, to depression or anxiety. Mental health is a very real problem in this country – and in the world - and I have nothing but the utmost respect for people who are, every day, doing their best to combat the stigma that still surrounds mental health problems.
My issue stems from this: a lot of people (and I mean a LOT) use World Mental Health Day to share a soppy tweet about how “it’s okay to not be okay”, or some shitty insta post/story about how they’re always there if you need someone to talk to, and then that’s it. They’ve done their duty for the year, they’ve addressed mental health, told their friends they’re there for them, they’re off the hook. And that’s just the point – they’re off the hook. They don’t actually want you to come and talk to them. They don’t actually want to deal with your problems. But now if, god forbid, something actually did happen to their friends or family they can sit back and say “well I reached out to them, I don’t know why they didn’t just talk to someone”. I’m not saying this will ever consciously go through someone’s mind when they acknowledge the day, but that’s the general gist of the reasoning behind it.
The point is that just posting a story, or sharing the hashtag, while it’s marketed under the “raising awareness” branch, it’s not actually doing anything for the people who genuinely need help. World Mental Health Day started way back in 1992, making it 26 years old this year, but the number of people being diagnosed with a mental health problem is only getting worse year on year. Yes, this will be partly because of the increased awareness and decreased stigma, but that’s exactly it: the awareness is increasing, but nothing else is. There’s no big surge in support for people with mental health issues, nothing put in place to combat the rise in depression and anxiety, amongst others. If anything, it’s getting worse; the Tory party have slashed funding for mental health services by £4.5 million, and the NHS now has 30% fewer beds for those suffering from a mental illness. Posting some copyrighted, MySpace-esque picture on Instagram doesn’t change these very real facts.
As someone who has personally suffered – and still does – with her mental health, I can categorically say that seeing someone post a status on World Mental Health Day, complete with a ridiculously long, very official hashtag has not made me want to “Come forward” and tell my story, or share how I’m feeling with my friends. It probably does help some people, and it probably has saved some people – and that’s good!!!! I’m so happy for them. But the reality is, no one posting about mental health today really cares about mental health. If you hit them up in a week and said “listen mate I’m feeling proper low today”, you’d get a bunch of sad faces back, maybe a “why?” if you’re lucky, but then it’s back to planning the next night out, or complaining about their housemates. That’s if you even get taken seriously. Even today people joke about their mental health on social media, and then there’s the people who are joking, but not really joking. Some people can’t even come forward. They want to, but the thought of opening themselves up and talking to someone about their mental health is so terrifying they’d rather like with the black cloud over their heads. Funnily enough, that’s one of the symptoms of mental illnesses - like anxiety.
The bottom line is that people don’t like people with mental illnesses. They’re supportive enough at first, but people who haven’t experienced it can’t help but think “well just cheer up then”. Which is a perfectly normal thing to think to an extent (you wouldn’t tell someone with cancer to just “stop growing cancer cells”) but it’s not helpful, and having a World Mental Health Awareness Day does nothing to combat this. We don’t need more awareness. People are aware. What we need are services, funding, people to talk to – and therapists that cost £200 an hour don’t count cos funnily enough, they’re not affordable for the general public.
World Mental Health Day is, quite frankly, bullshit. Use the day to raise awareness, fine, but get off your high horse and stop acting like you’re doing something amazing and positive and useful. Especially when 364 days out of the year, mental health issues don’t even begin to enter your mind.
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