How someone else feels about a month focused on mental health is irrelevant. As noted, mental health should be a focus all the time. It's not taboo, it's not someone being "crazy" or "nuts," (both of which are dismissive disrespectful terms). It's only been in recent months that I've learned about how trauma and anxiety have been in my life on a bigger level, and didn't even realize I was maneurving with those in tow.

Alright, so we have half the population (or people responding about this topic) thinking about Mental Health Awareness as something they are recovering from with a negative history and we have half of the responses talking about experiences with being completely healthy.

I'd like to say that the biggest issue that I have found when facing any aspect of health awareness is the fact that mental and physical health are treated as two completely different aspects of health. In my experience, as soon as I begin expressing how I am doing emotionally, I get sent to a psychiatrist and as soon as I start explaining to the psychiatrist that I have experienced and witnessed a lot of physical health challenges, it's would you like some pills?

I agree that trying to understand the disorders is a handful.

And that I need rest and relaxation but someplace else.

onlyforaminute said:

Yes mental health should be the focus all the time. And the stigma should be removed. But of course we don't live in a perfect world.

I heard on the radio the other day someone referring to the loneliness aspect experienced from lockdowns as crushing to the soul. Hmm. Can't say I disagree, but there's long term loneliness. And there's also harassment in addition to loneliness which should be in a category all by itself. Crazy inducing? Probably.

Face it, 50,000/100,000 years ago, there is no such thing as loneliness, not in the human kingdom. If anybody gets cast out, they won't find the resources to survive in solitude. So evolutionarily there's no continuation. Which is why we as a species are very social. And if a lion gets booted out of a pride, or chimpanzee from a troop, the same thing happens. They don't live long enough to go mad or pass on their genes. Humans on the other hand have been conducting this mad experiment on themselves, really since the dawn of the 2nd industrial revolution where employment becomes valued above anything else and community is pretty much pushed to the bottom of priorities.

heartpeacesheart said: