Mental health awareness week

In honor of mental health awareness week I'm going to try to to a post each day this week. And try to include some interesting mental health information.

I had a mini break down at work today. Yeah. I've had a tough few days. On Saturday I got to a point where I physically could barely speak, like I didn't have the energy to talk. Yesterday I felt drained. This morning my head was just filled with such darkness. I just couldn't get these horrible thoughts out of my head. I spent most of the work day fighting back tears, until it reached a point where I couldn't hold it back any more. I just took a few minutes and cried. That's it, just let it all out. I think sometimes that's all you really need. It takes up so much energy trying not to cry, and when you're depressed you barely have any energy anyway. Might as well just cry and save your energy to actually work towards making yourself feel better.

Ways I'm trying to make myself feel better right now. I'm writing, which I like doing. I took my daughters out to eat, my therapist thinks going out with them more often will help make me feel better. I'm going to watch one of my favorite movies in a bit, either Silver Linings Playbook or Pride and Prejudice, haven't decided yet. I'm going to cuddle with my cat. Before I go to sleep I'm going to do some yoga. Then I'm going to listen to music while I fall asleep. My therapist and I worked on this list of things to do to lift me back up and it's the first time I'm actually using it.

Also something I'm doing tonight is preparing for tomorrow. I'm going to be on a panel about depression and I need to tell my "story". I have like 5-7 minutes so need to decide what I'm going to talk about in those few minutes. After the panelists tell their stories they open the room up for a Q&A. Trying to think about what may be asked. I have this fear that I will be asked something and just have no idea what to say.

So, interesting mental health information #1..

According to good old nami.org (national alliance on mental illness); 1 in 5 Americans live with a mental disorder. Is that surprising? I don't think so, seems pretty accurate to me. It's the next part that gets to me. So 1 in 5 Americans live with a mental disorder, two thirds of all people with a diagnosable mental illness do NOT seek treatment. Two thirds. That is a lot of people and that is just wrong. It makes me sad thinking that there are people out there suffering in some way and not getting treatment, most likely because of the stigma.

The stigma around mental illness is unbelievable. It's something that really needs to change.