Outlooks & Setbacks Saturdays
Dangerous Situations
Mental Illness
Mental illness is a very real thing that can put people’s lives at risk.
A friend of mine is currently struggling greatly with mental illness - to the point where he has been institutionalized for self-harm and attempted suicide.
It is devastating to watch, and while there is a lot of help available for mental illness these days, it is not always easy to access. It’s often expensive, hard to find a good fit, and often hard to admit that we need help.
Many people don’t really even recognize the state of their mental health (or mental illness) until it’s almost too late. They just start on a slow decline towards mental dysfunction without recognizing that that is what’s happening.
That’s what is scary - is the slow and steady decline where we slowly stop functioning well in our life until all of a sudden we cannot function at all.
That’s what happened to my friend - he has always struggled with his mental health. Then, through a series of events in his life that started to affect him, he slowly began a descent into complete dysfunction.
But it was slow - and he (and his wife) both would rationalize what was happening. He was tired from working a lot, or he hadn’t been sleeping well, or he was stressed about the finances. But the stress and exhaustion never let up and he continued to decline. They continued to just pass off his state as “stress” - which it was, but it suddenly was to the point where he was unable to function. He could not longer get to work, he could no longer care for the kids, he could no longer make simple decisions like what he would eat for lunch. He just sort of shut down.
“All of a sudden” he was in a state of total dysfunction.
So check in with yourself and ask yourself how you are actually doing. Are you struggling but passing it off just as “stress?” Do you need to seek some help and support? Please take care of yourself before you find yourself in a dangerous situation where you are unable to cope with the regular stressors of life.