Entering the Blogisphere- Discussing Mental Health
Well folks, this is my first venture into this thing which is the blog. I have read a few blogs here and there. They have mostly been ones written by friends or shared on Facebook or other media outlets. So I am not sure what to expect as I enter this world on my own. It is a bit daunting sending out my thoughts and ideas into the cyber landscape. As I tell clients on a regular basis, we have to start somewhere and I guess this is as good a place as any.
The purpose of this blog is to express thoughts and ideas on mental health and overall wellness. My hope is to give folks a better understanding of ways to improve their mental wellness, prevent mental illness from becoming debilitating and normalize the conversation about our own mental health.
It seems that most people feel quite comfortable talking about their physical health. If someone you know has high blood pressure or allergies or the flu, they often will discuss it openly and, whether you want them to or not, at length. The same cannot be said about our mental health. I noticed this first hand after having my first child. While all of the articles and books about pregnancy and childbirth make an attempt to alert women to the baby blues and post-partum depression, simply the idea of telling someone other than my husband that I was feeling down after my darling child was born was out of the question. I felt completely comfortable discussing labor and delivery and even the physical healing post-partum. However it felt very different to discuss the emotional ups and downs that occurred after my baby was born. Thankfully, I did not have much in the way of the baby blues. There were a few days of feeling overwhelmed, anxious and somewhat tearful. Overall though it left quickly and my emotions stabilized. But I did think often of how many mothers expect that they should be able to handle all of the changes of motherhood with a smile. It is a huge job becoming a mother in addition to physical trauma of actually having the baby. Most women at some point in the first month of having a child experience tearfulness, emotional unsteadiness and even depressed feelings which are normal and short lived. It is so common that there is a name for it-the baby blues. It struck me though that if I, an educated professional in the mental health field, didn't want to talk about my own Baby Blues, then we have a lot of work to do before the discussion of our mental health becomes a comfortable and normal part of our personal interactions with others.
Our mental and emotional wellbeing is as important as our physical wellbeing. They are intrinsically connected in ways that we have yet to fully understand. Yet, even those of us in the field of emotional health are more reluctant to voice our concerns about our emotional and mental health. So let's work on that people!