Exploration of Thought
October 2016 I took part in an event held at St Helens Central Library for World Mental Health Day. This is a blog about what i gathered from that day and my own feelings towards Mental Health.
For this project I wanted to ask people questions related to mental health, and ask people about their fears. I had 3 questions on 3 different coloured cards, Red, Blue and Yellow. After the person wrote their answer down i placed it into a jar.
1: (BLUE) 'What comes to mind when you think of Mental Health?'
My reason for this question was because I was curious to find out what someone thought when they heard the words 'Mental Health'.
Growing up I didn't hear these words often, there were people around me who were definitely experiencing mental health issues, but I didn't really understand what it was and why some individuals in my life were acting the way they were until i was about 18/19 years old. I wanted to gather more opinions and find an overall answer, if there was one. I also wanted to see what reaction the words 'Mental Health' had on people, what were some other things that they thought of when they thought of mental health, and how these words are said and used in 2016...
Labels
label
ˈleɪb(ə)l/
noun
plural noun: labels
1.
a small piece of paper, fabric, plastic, or similar material attached to an object and giving information about it.
"the alcohol content is clearly stated on the label"
synonyms:tag, ticket, tab, sticker, marker, docket, chit, chitty, flag, stamp; More
2.
a classifying phrase or name applied to a person or thing, especially one that is inaccurate or restrictive.
At one time in my life i was curious about why we need to label things so much? Like getting a sticky note and writing the words 'manic depressive', 'bipolar', schizophrenic' then slapping it onto someones forehead like they are a slab of butter in a shop window. I came to the conclusion that it is just human nature to label things, so we know what they are, and when we know what a certain problem in our mind is then we can proceed to fix or work with that problem and try to find a solution.
But something that I have noticed with some of my generation and younger generations, and with the ever evolving social media, is that it has become almost a trend or a joke for people to type something like '#depressed' or '#axietysquad' into their Twitter bio's or on a post they have shared on Facebook.
I am curious to find out why these kind of words are used so loosely on social media but not spoke of so much in real life, and why it is almost seen as a 'cool' and trendy thing to have as a description of yourself in the virtual world.
Maybe it is because nowadays people who have grown up with social media right at there finger tips dont think twice about exposing there thoughts openly on a platform that dosnt have a direct emotional impact, or maybe it is a coping mechanism, a way to vent, and express feelings.
It concerns me in a way that we are so used to expressing are selves openly on social media but when it comes to communicating in real time human to human, we are not so open.
I suppose sometimes labels can be good and they can be bad, it just comes down to how we as individuals perceive, use and understand them in real life and on social media.
This brings me back to the words 'Mental Health'... What do people associated these words with? What other labels spiral off when these words are mentioned. One recurring answer that i found was Loneliness.
Loneliness. The feeling that you have no one, no hope, the feeling of having to deal with every single thing yourself. This is interesting to me as i believe that at some point in everyone's life they have experienced this emotion, weather it was long lasting or there for a few moments, as a species that are so complex, different and the same, why do we feel so alone? This is a question I am yet to find a definite answer to but i do have a theory.
As humans we are born and raised to believe that we have to achieve something with our lives, go to school, go to college go to university, then get a job and do that job until you retire in good health with a nice home and a loving family. We grow up with this heavy expectation of what life should be like. But what happens when it doesn't work out quite the way it should? We start to question ourselves and compare ourselves to others. Retreating into ourselves and disconnecting from the surrounding world, thus creating the feeling of being alone. Feeling not good enough for the outside world, not good enough to believe someone else would enjoy your company. Then this starts a cycle, which can be hard to get out of. But recognizing these feeling and facing them should be the first step to understanding them. Then recognizing that you are not so alone.
Emotions have become important to me as they come with reason, and if you can identify the reason then you are closer to the problem and when identifying the problem you are closer to a solution.
In conclusion to loneliness, at least one point in our lives we all feel completely alone, but it is important to understand why we feel this way in order to progress and emerge from ourselves. I do believe loneliness does play a massive role within mental health, this is why it is important to talk about it, something which i am learning to do right now, even if it may not make complete sense. Just talk.. Or type. It was quite surprises to see how many people wrote this as an answer.
2: (YELLOW) How might you help yourself or someone else who is experiencing Mental Health?
I wanted to find out how someone who may not have experienced mental health first hand would go about helping someone who may be experiencing it. Also people who have experienced it, how they would used what they have learned to help a person.
The most common answer i got from this was that people would help another person by engaging with them, weather that be talking, being kind to another person, giving up there time and patients to listen, or simply smiling at another person (something that it very rare in our times).
I was curious to see if anyone would actually want to help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue, and it was interesting to read that people think that the best way to help is to just be there for one an other, genuinely, and recognizing that sometimes when you see a person distressed, its okay to offer help, even if you may not know them. I think it is greatly needed in the world at the moment.
3: (RED) What are you afraid of?
For this question I was surprised at the reaction some people gave me when they read it. They seemed to be a bit taken a back by it. Which is understandable. I am learning to be open to my fears and try to understand them because i think that is were a problem lies. So i was curious to find out what other people were afraid of. Some answers i got were 'spiders', 'heights', 'clowns', which are common fears. But other answers I got were along the lines of 'Being unable to help', 'old age', and 'a trauma happening to my son that i cant prevent'.
My aim for this was not just because i was interested in peoples fears but because i want to ask a person who may have not even thought about that question before, in hopes that they might go away and think about it more then hopefully try to face there fears. Although i think i may have made some people feel a bit uncomfortable, but i suppose thats normal when your faced with the question of what scares you.
Something that was quite strange for me was when my Dad attended the event. I wasn't expecting him to come. And I had prepared these questions that I wasn't prepared to ask him. Mine and my Dads relationship is a strange one but there is an understanding there that we both agree on. I have never in my life attempted to ask him what he was afraid of or sat down and spoke to him about these things. I should point out that my Dad has had difficulties with alcohol for over 20 years, and suffers from his own mental health issues that even now i dont fully understand, so it was a bit odd to ask him these questions. Maybe that was one of my fears? It made me feel quite emotional and almost like i have been a bit ignorant when i saw what he had put in regards to his fears..
Alcoholism, addiction, and society. How do they interact? Very judgmental in my opinion, even from myself sometimes. Labels...
We see the label and not the person? We see there actions but don't try to understand?
Reading this answer from my Dad made me realise something. It showed me that there is a human being underneath the addiction. Underneath the aggression, and the sadness and grief. There must have been a reason behind why he started in the first place? A problem so unbearable that he felt the need to wash it away?
To conclude, i think this project helped me to see humanity as a whole and how we connect as people. Writing about it also made me realise that even if something dosnt make much sense now, it will eventually, just be willing to figure it out.
Photo's of some of the answers are below, thanks for reading,
Olly
