Why is Mental Health Awareness So Important?

Since 1949, every May has been dedicated to raising awareness around mental health. A whole month, dedicated to increasing community awareness on the importance of mental health. But why? What makes mental health awareness so important?

Why We Need Awareness

If we break a bone, our first step is usually to go see a doctor to get checked out. This seems like an intuitive thing to do. When we are at the doctor, we get our X-ray, get the results, and have a cast put on before we are sent home. But what about mental injuries? Like crippling anxiety, persistent depression, chronic stress, a painful breakup, low self-esteem, a crushed dream? Many times, these concerns go untreated. We think that we can just get over it or shove the negative things aside.

But what if we started to see mental health as an equal counterpart to physical health? What if we treated our mental wounds just like our physical wounds by going to seek professional help in order to heal?

Break the Mental Health Stigma

Much work has been done to raise awareness about mental health and mental disorders, but there is still so much more to go. For many of us, it feels taboo to talk about our experiences with mental disorders. We may still feel that it is something that we should take care of ourselves and not share around. This can feel isolating. Like no one else in the world knows what we’re going through.

But what if you heard that 1 in 5 American adults experience a mental illness each year? The thing is--we’re not alone, and mental illnesses are far more common than we think they are.

This is why we need awareness. So we feel free to start talking about our experiences and support one another through the internal battles we experience. So we can feel comfortable with seeking out support and saying, hey, I need help. So we can learn about mental disorders and know red flags when they appear. So we know how to achieve mental health and help others to do the same.

Moreover, mental health awareness month isn’t just for people dealing with severe mental illnesses, it is for all of us. We can all benefit from understanding and promoting our own mental health.

For this May, let’s work to actively promote our mental health, educate ourselves on mental disorders, be there to support others through hard times, and collectively break the stigma.