Mental Illness Hides Among Us All
Everyone has their demons they fight every day, whether it is a physical ailment or a mental one. The difference between these two is the fact that mental illnesses go hidden. The people you think you know the best may continually fight an internal battle that they don’t feel comfortable letting out.
This makes mental illnesses so dangerous. A lot of folks don’t realize they have them until it is too late. They might not know how to ask for help because of the stigma behind mental disorders. I am here to say this to you. If you are suffering, please ask for aid.
Many people didn’t really notice my issues. I always was “the life of the party”. Even though I was dying inside, I kept my demons to myself because I wanted to continue to be that for everyone. The problem with that was the fact that I was at an event physically, but I wasn’t there mentally.
The best way I can describe this feeling is of the situation of driving somewhere, and you show up and wonder, “how did I actually get here?”. Yes, you physically drove there, but because it was such a habit to get to where you needed to go, you spaced out on the drive.
OCD is just like that. Being at a party and physically being there, but everything inside your mind is torture. Constantly ruminating about if you are a bad person, or whatever your obsessions may be. You aren’t focused on anything that is happening around you, only what is going on in your brain.
This is where you have to let it all go. It is tough to stop rumination, but it is an action that you control yourself. An example is someone yelling a math problem to you. Can you leave the problem alone and not solve it? The answer to that is YES. Same goes for rumination. Stop it to get better, and an expert ERP therapist can help you.
Physical ailments may be visible outside and you know you may need to help your family or friends overcome them. The problem with mental illness is that someone might have the fight of their life going on internally, but they are not telling anyone. If you suffer, don’t suffer alone. There is no reason to. If you think someone may be suffering, please ask them! Sometimes prompting them may drum up a response that otherwise would have not been revealed.
We all have demons. Let’s fight and overcome them together.