boiMAG.com "Health & Wellness"

by: Dr. Charla Waxman BS, MBA, EdD Director of Business Development Lake Behavioral Hospital

Why we avoid mental health help and support... and we do!

People are increasingly aware of the seriousness of mental illness and the long term impact of not getting help early following identification. Excellent media campaigns by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Seize the Awkward (The Jed Foundation, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Ad Council) among others, have helped us all understand the importance of mental health treatment. Even with great information out there and clear messages about the varieties of available support, many still choose not to seek help. Although the stats differ depending on the organization, 40% seems to be a solid percentage of those forgoing any kind of mental health help. How is it possible that so many risk lifelong depression, suicide, poor life choices, and addiction?

Shame

Whether you call it shame or stigma, it is definitely out there! NAMI calls mental illness the “No Casserole” disease. For instance, if you were off from work for 3 weeks due to a hospitalization for a broken leg, you could expect calls, flowers, and cards from co-workers, friends, and family wishing you well and a speedy recovery. If you were hospitalized for depression or a suicide attempt, those same calls, flowers, and cards would probably be fewer in number.

Perhaps only a few very close friends and family would even consider making contact and some of those well- meaning folks might admonish your actions, or tell you to pull yourself together because people are depending on you. Imagine what that would feel like. It certainly would not create a hope-filled recovery. Admitting a relapse or asking for additional help in a situation involving shame and stigma would most likely mean that seeking help would not be an option.

Fear

If you have never done something, leaning into the experience can be quite scary. Worrying that it won’t work or that failure may play a part is unnerving. Believing that all doctors will do is offer medications and that there will be horrific side effects can cause someone to reconsider the idea of reaching out. Looking at unreliable sites on the internet and listening to the bad experiences of others may drive one to decline support.

The unknown can only be challenged successfully with experience and the hope here is that you will try. There are lots of kinds of therapy and medications can be individualized to meet a specific illness need. Treatment does work. People do care. You are worth every little effort to feel better and get better.

Awareness

Addiction, in particular, is a disease of desire over reality. Regardless of relationships going awry, loss of a job, and legal or financial issues; the yearning to continue a behavior may far exceed the interest to stop.

Consequences have minimal impact and the behaviors and denial deepens over time. Other mental health conditions may go untreated as some may feel; “It’s not that bad” or “I can fix this by myself”. Some disorders may mean that connections to the here and now are limited and hallucinations or delusions may prevent awareness of the condition.

Durability

Mental illness can be exhausting. In the video, The Pain of Depression, in the Mental Health First Aid training course (National Council for Mental Wellbeing), Alice, a woman with depression, describes her body as feeling like “lead”. She tells that knowing the impact her death would have on her daughter was the only thing preventing her from suicide. She tells that in the “hell” she was in, “death could not be worse”. Consider, then, feeling like your body is made of “lead” and trying to muster the energy to make a call for help and ask for support. It sounds impossible and without someone to help or to initiate the reaching out for mental health help, the “ask” may never happen.

Feasibility

Even not-for-profit mental health support, in all reality, may not be free. Healthcare at any level can be or feel costly. Those without insurance benefits may find it difficult to secure treatment or the time limitations of treatment may mean that enough support for sustaining improvement is not achieved. Some people, like those with addictions, may have exceeded available treatment options or have left facilities before program completion, which then disallows a second or third chance to get help. With covid, telehealth increased, but people in the geriatric community, for instance, indicated no in-home computer access. Some cannot access healthcare because there was not a match for available specialty professionals, and in some communities there is minimal overall mental health treatment available. Overall, there are lots of reasons why people don’t seek treatment. We do know for sure that anti-stigma responses, caring responses and learning about available services can be life changing.

If you need help, please call Lake Behavioral Hospital for a free mental health assessment to help determine the best level of care for you, at 855 990-1900. Our caring professionals will provide the professional care that you need.

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