Today:
The stigma around mental health is still here, but it is low enough to make some real progress on the issue. In this age of technology and ambition, the frontiers of research are being expanded upon every day. There is so much room for growth, but it is just a matter of selecting which path society should choose for the future.
The Future in Schools:
Children spend a good chunk of their time in school, so of course, it has a large impact on their overall wellbeing. In Kindergarten, I remember everyone in my class was called down to the nurse’s office to check our vision and hearing. Then, in the fifth and eighth grade, we completed our scoliosis screenings in school as well. The conditions they screened for were of some which have a large impact on our success in the classroom. But what about mental health? This division of health could take a drastic toll on the ability to fully receive the gift of education, so why don’t we place an emphasis on this? Approximately half of the mental illnesses in existence manifest themselves during adolescence, so the best way to ensure the most access to care and support for students is by integrating this sector of health into our current system. Basic screenings are already prevalent in clinics and primary care, but they aren’t yet utilized in the school system. The first part of recovery is establishing that there is a problem present. For a good chunk of people with mental illness, they wait until their condition is unbearable before they seek out care. Not only would screenings help academic performance, but it could also catch illness in its onset and render it defenseless against today’s medical interventions. The earlier an illness is caught, the better the outcomes for the patient.
The Future in Primary Care:
As of right now, primary care is only required to assess the physical aspects of health. I remember that only a couple of years ago, mental health screenings were integrated into my pediatrician’s regiment for me. Physical health and mental health are deeply intertwined. Without the full health of one, the other cannot thrive. I praise my past physician’s for checking in major life events that had been happening and evaluating my responses to them, but I felt as though “mental health” itself was never mentioned. It was always one of those aspects that had been implied in their questions, but it was never directly asserted. As a current health care professions student, I have noticed an increased awareness around mental health, so I really hope for a shift toward really acknowledging its importance in the population and how common it really is. In my classes, the professors emphasize thoroughly assessing the patient not just from what they record in their health history but also from what they see. If you think someone is hurting, it should be okay to talk about it. I have high hopes for the integration of deeper conversations in clinics and primary care offices. Even though all of the population doesn’t have the chance to go through these facilities due to the disparities in our community, this could be a great opportunity to help those that physicians have access to at this time.
The Future in the Family:
Growing up in this dynamic era has exposed me to so many different sides of my family. I remember toward the beginning of my struggles with anxiety, mental illness still seemed to fall under the shadows of stigma. I complained of discomfort for years, but it got to the point where I felt as though I was frustrating my family. It wasn’t “me” that they were upset with, but it was directed more toward my illness. We would make plans to go out to different places, but at the last minute, I would always feel sick to my stomach and opt to stay in. One time, we were getting ready to go on a cruise, and I could feel the anxiety boiling up during our five-hour drive to the coast. After we reached our destination, we decided to grab some food at a restaurant on the beach, but I knew that I couldn’t make it through dinner. When the waiter came to take our orders, I told him that I didn’t want any food. The menu was full of my favorite foods, but it didn’t make a difference. My family decided to get their food to go so that I wouldn’t have to sit there, but I just felt awful about the whole thing. We had been planning this vacation for such a long time, and I didn’t want to ruin it for them. We ended up going back to the hotel for the night, but the pressures from my family were getting to me. They claimed at the moment that I was feeling that way because I wasn’t “taking care of myself”. I knew that my issue was something far beyond that, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Fast forward to a few years later, I was faced with another anxiety attack while I was out with my family, and it kind of clicked for my mother. She said that she thought it might be due to anxiety, and that’s when I knew we were getting somewhere. After finding a possible direction to take with my health, my family became extremely supportive of me. The blame melted away into newly found hope and encouragement. I feel as though the stigma and confusion around mental illness can be tough to deal with, but at the end of the day, your family is there to love and support you. Nothing can get in the way of that. It is a learning process for everyone, and I am so grateful for how accommodating my parents and my sister have become. I believe that in the future, once an increase in information surrounding mental health is available, there will be a greater initial acceptance around illness. Right now, it is just a matter of figuring out how to get that information out there.
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