09/30/2019
Is mental illness less stigmatized?
Yes, we are talking about it more. But are we talking about it in the right way? “Mental health”, “mental illness”, “anxiety”, “depression”, “stigma”, “lets talk”; you’ve probably seen these words pop up in a number of mental health campaigns. This is great and the efforts that have been shed on mental health have done so much good in schools, workplaces…everywhere.
But let’s take it one step further.
Let’s talk about what mental illness looks like. What does it smell like. What does it sound like. How does it taste?
Let’s stop looking at mental illness through rose-coloured glasses. Take off those glasses; yes, it’s ugly.
It looks like living in mess, to the point where you can’t get out of bed without stepping on something. It smells like garbage, uncleaned dishes and empty bottles of booze. It sounds like shallow breaths with intermittent sobs that makes the hairs on your neighbours arm stand up. It tastes like vomit, dry mouth and chalky pills that keep sticking to your tongue.
Most of all, it FEELS like you would rather die than live. Hard to hear right?
Nobody wants to hear the visceral and raw side of mental illness. But we have to talk about it to change our perception of it, even if it's in phases Let’s change the world through stories and not just keywords and phrases.
Photos by the talented Nicole Richards for her amazing project shedding light on mental illness to raise funds for Youth Recovery House. Check Nicole's project out @ Kelowna, British Columbia
