May is Mental Health Awareness Month! 

Men­tal health is wealth, espe­cial­ly dur­ing Men­tal Health Aware­ness Month, which is cel­e­brat­ed in May. The stig­ma around men­tal health and treat­ment has long exist­ed, even though this has start­ed to change. Still, peo­ple hes­i­tate to seek help or even talk about it with their loved ones for fear of being judged and fac­ing unnec­es­sary back­lash. Sim­ple log­ic dic­tates that if we are hurt any­where, we must seek treat­ment to get bet­ter. This applies to both our men­tal- and phys­i­cal well-being. While Men­tal Health Aware­ness Month is cel­e­brat­ed in the U.S., a more uni­ver­sal day is also cel­e­brat­ed by the WHO on Octo­ber 10, and it is known as World Men­tal Health Day.

HISTORY OF MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH

Men­tal Health Aware­ness Month was first cel­e­brat­ed in 1949. It was com­mem­o­rat­ed by the Men­tal Health Amer­i­ca orga­ni­za­tion, which was then known as the Nation­al Com­mit­tee for Men­tal Hygiene and then lat­er as the Nation­al Men­tal Health Asso­ci­a­tion before it got its cur­rent name. The asso­ci­a­tion was found­ed by Clif­ford Whit­ting­ham Beers. Beers, who was born in 1876 in Con­necti­cut, was one of five chil­dren in his fam­i­ly who all suf­fered from men­tal ill­ness and psy­cho­log­i­cal dis­tress. All of them also went on to spend time at men­tal insti­tu­tions and it was from his hos­pi­tal admit­tance that he dis­cov­ered that the men­tal health field had a noto­ri­ous rep­u­ta­tion for mal­prac­tice, mal­treat­ment, and immense bias.

Beers went on to author “A Mind That Found Itself”, which is a best­seller even today. Gain­ing pop­u­lar­i­ty and sup­port from med­ical pro­fes­sion­als, Beers found­ed the Nation­al Com­mit­tee for Men­tal Hygiene. Beers and his col­leagues at the asso­ci­a­tion want­ed to find ways to make sure that men­tal health patients not only received the right care but also did not feel alone in their fight against men­tal diseases.

Since 1949, each year, a theme is select­ed to be high­light­ed and cel­e­brat­ed through­out May. Recent years have seen themes like ‘Do More for 1 in 4’ (2011), ‘B4Stage4’ (2015), and ‘Nature’ (2021). Dur­ing the month, var­i­ous events are held that are cov­ered by media and well-known fig­ures like politi­cians and actors. Men­tal Health Amer­i­ca also dili­gent­ly releas­es a men­tal health toolk­it for out­reach activities.

HOW TO OBSERVE MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH

Take care of yourself
Life has numer­ous ups and downs. Some are solv­able but oth­ers not so much. When your men­tal health acts up, seek the right treat­ment and make your­self bet­ter because, after all, life has much more to offer than just pain and suffering.

Take care of your loved ones
Check up on your friends and fam­i­ly. Many times, all peo­ple need is a shoul­der to cry on and/or an ear to lis­ten. Sup­port and encour­age them if they are being treat­ed for any men­tal problems.

Talk about men­tal health
One of the best ways to cel­e­brate Men­tal Health Aware­ness Month is by talk­ing about it with your peers. The more you talk about it, the more nor­mal­ized it will become. This is one of the aims of the month as the stig­ma attached to men­tal health has led to count­less delays in treat­ment AND research on the matter.