Zoe Updegrove

Mrs. Cramer

Comp Pd. 6

15 May 2020

I believe in the awareness and support of mental health. In society today, we are

discovering different types of mental health issues and ways to support the people who have

them. I believe we need to be well educated on the matters before we can begin to learn, treat,

and judge these issues.

To begin, mental health is a highly controversial topic, and people need to learn the

correct definitions and symptoms of these subjects, and not just the common depression or

anxiety, but also the more stigmatized ones like dissociative identity disorder, obsessive

compulsive disorder and drug addiction. To begin to understand these disorders is the first step to

learning how to help those who have them.

In the same fashion, I try to help people understand a mental health topic before they try

to self-diagnose themselves with it, or before others start judging those who have it. Self-

diagnosing is common, and mostly dangerous, but should be treated carefully especially if one

wants help with their issue. Only a medical professional can legally diagnose you with

something, but there are some instances where people cannot get the medical help they need due

to a multitude of reasons such as no health insurance, no resources, or largely, discrimination

against those who have a mental health disorder.

Furthermore, I myself have been diagnosed with some mental health issues. In 2017, I

was clinically diagnosed with depression, anxiety and OCD. This effected my life in several
ways, and one of which was to start taking medicine. To make a long story short, I was not

happy with the idea of taking medicine for these problems, and although I tried, I stopped taking

them after about only 6 months. This is because of a multitude of reasons, but mainly because I

didn’t want medicine to help “make me feel better.” I wanted to help myself without a stimulus

to aide me.

Not only do I want awareness of mental health topics, but when it comes to the

controlling them, I want people to understand that taking medicine isn't the only way to help.

Yes, it is a large part of helping those with disorders and for some it’s the only way they feel

normal, but having medicine become a clutch can be even more detrimental to the situation.

Support, relaxation and problem-solving are also great parts of working through mental health

issues. After I stopped taking medications, I turned to friends to help support me and music to

help me relax in damaging times. I learned how to calm down in a situation and even though it

doesn't always work, I have taken the steps to learn how to help myself even more.

In conclusion, everyone's mentality is relative to their situations and the help they receive

needs to be tailored to their personal needs or beliefs. Mental health is one of the most important

issues in this society and the awareness and support for these individuals is what's going to help

everyone in the long run.