May Is Mental Health Awareness Month

Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in May in the United States since 1949. It is celebrated through media, local events, and film screenings. Mental Health America started Mental Health Awareness Month in 1949.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) posts that May is Mental Health Awareness Month on its website. Since its inception in 1949, Mental Health Awareness Month has been a cornerstone of addressing the challenges faced by millions of Americans living with mental health conditions. Throughout the month, NAMI actively participates in this national movement, which is dedicated to eradicating stigma, extending support, fostering public education, and advocating for policies prioritizing the well-being of individuals and families affected by mental illness.

NAMI invites you to “Take The Moment.” This year, NAMI is celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month with the “Take the Moment” campaign. They encourage you to join them in fostering open dialogues and cultivating empathy and understanding. They also urge you to share their resources to support individuals and families on their journey toward mental wellness. Through “Take the Moment,” they shine a spotlight on NAMI’s array of signature programs, including NAMI Basics, NAMI Family-to-Family, NAMI Family & Friends, NAMI Homefront, NAMI In Our Voice, NAMI Peer-to-Peer, NAMI Support Groups and their invaluable NAMI HelpLine, which is a free, nationwide peer-support service providing information, resource referrals and support to people living with a mental health condition, their family members and caregivers, mental health providers and the public.

This campaign powerfully advocates for the importance of de-stigmatizing mental health by normalizing the practice of taking moments to prioritize mental health care without guilt or shame. Participate in the ‘Take the Moment’ campaign for yourself and your loved ones and contribute to a significant movement changing how society views mental health.

NAMI also invites you to download the Toolkit. The toolkit was created to support NAMI State Organizations, NAMI Affiliates, partners, and ambassadors in efforts to promote Mental Health Awareness Month.

Join them, take the moment, and make a difference together. Download your toolkit for more insights on this campaign, downloadable graphics, and more!

NAMI is not the only mental health advocacy group using May to further understanding of those living with mental illness and brain disorders. Two other examples are Bring Change To Mind (see their website at https://www.bringchange2mind.org/) and the Schizophrenia and Psychosis Action Alliance (see their website at https://sczaction.org/). You can also track them and NAMI down on social media by searching for their name.

As someone living with paranoid schizophrenia, one of the most misunderstood mental illnesses, or, as some prefer, brain disorders, to have a month highlighting what can be done to help people like me achieve better mental health and be more accepted socially is very encouraging. Schizophrenia symptoms are not to be feared but to be understood if we are to know how to confront them, as mental health consumers or caregivers, when they occur. 

The mental health advocacy groups I have mentioned have many years of experience observing the plight of mental health consumers in the USA. They all provide good advice about what to do if someone you know has a mental health emergency. They also offer advice for fostering trust and friendship during periods of better mental health.

I write in my blog posts and talk in my podcast about some of my personal experiences; see also my novel “The Overlife, A Tale Of Schizophrenia,” available from amazon.com as a paperback, a Kindle book, and an audiobook, as well as in paperback form directly from my website https://overliveschizophrenia.com/

My mother lived with paranoid schizophrenia but never admitted she had a mental illness. This refusal is akin to “anosognosia.” Anosognosia is a neurological condition in which the patient is unaware of their neurological deficit or psychiatric condition. Growing up with her, I witnessed the misunderstandings and heartbreaks that resulted from my mother’s lack of acceptance that she lived with a mental illness and the rejection she often faced as soon as someone became aware that she had mental health issues.

In my case, despite, in retrospect, the fact that I lived with schizophrenia at least since my twenties, I was misdiagnosed for many years by doctors who opted for depression rather than paranoid schizophrenia. It was like enforced anosognosia. When I was finally correctly diagnosed as living with paranoid schizophrenia and given medication that helped my symptoms, all I felt was relief, not shame. By then, I was married to my spouse, who is an excellent caregiver, but estranged from my immediate family and some of my close friends who feared my psychiatric condition would threaten the lifestyle they enjoyed.

The stigma of mental illness is powerful, and one of the conditions most vilified is schizophrenia. Those exercising stigma no longer have the excuse that not enough is known about mental illness for them to become well-informed. There are many scientific works and easily readable information about mental illness, including schizophrenia, for the non-expert. I have been struck by how some people who should know me well enough to appreciate my overall self, once they know I live with schizophrenia, run away from me in fear of having to adapt their lifestyles if they try to understand me. I am not afraid to discuss my schizophrenia, but they are.

During Mental Health Awareness Month, mental health advocacy groups, like NAMI, focus in their online information on “first steps” for those who genuinely want to maintain a relationship with someone living with a mental illness. This information includes what to do if someone has a mental health emergency. In my case, the friends and family who rejected me didn’t seek such advice.

On the positive side, my spouse, several relatives, and many friends are taking the journey with me as I learn to manage my schizophrenia symptoms and feel compelled to share my experiences with others.

Remember, there are many more aspects to a consumer of mental health than their diagnosis. I try to bring that out, too, as I engage on social media about topics other than mental illness. My forthcoming novel features a heroine with schizophrenia, but the basic theme is sibling abuse. That novel is entitled “Three Kidnapped, Three Siblings, Three Furies” and will appear soon.

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