9 Things To Avoid Saying To A Person Struggling With Mental Health

Mental health illnesses like depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are some of the many disorders that affect millions of people worldwide. The seemingly unending Covid-19 pandemic has inadvertently worsened the mental health of many. To make matters worse, most of us are not well-equipped to know what to do or what to say when dealing with mental health issues.

It can be difficult knowing what to say to someone we care about when they are struggling. Many are worried about coming across as rude or unhelpful or just saying “the wrong thing.” After all, our good old friend Instagram has already told us how important it is to not invalidate anyone’s experience.

Here is a list of statements that we think are best left unsaid. A List of NOTs, if we may: 

1. No matter how many people are around, a person can still feel alone:

2. Mental health problems are not a phase:

3. When someone is feeling low, they do not always have the will to do things. Pushing them incessantly, even with the best of intentions, may not always be the right approach:

4. As humans living in a highly digitalized era, we have been fed a lot of generalizations and sometimes, even misinformation. Don’t give in to your assumptions about someone.

5. Using medical diagnoses as a descriptive quality or a personality trait is not cool:

6. You might not always know what your “happy” friend is going through:

7. We understand that you care about them and want them to be happy, but being upset with is not the way to do it:

8. Yes, it’s true that things can always be worse. But there is no explanation needed as to why that might not be the first thing a loved one wants to hear when they’re feeling low:

9. Mental health is complex and nuanced, which is what makes learning more about it each day so much more enriching.

If you identified with any of the points above and have said them to a friend or even yourself, we just want to say - it’s okay, we have been there too. As we mentioned above, we are always learning and becoming more aware of our own behaviour and thoughts. Some even call that growing old and wise! The most important thing is to be open to change, to check yourself when necessary and of course, to take a little help if and when you feel like you need it.

Source: 

Insider.com

Psychcentral

Aruma

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