Silence

I had an entire post ready to go, but then something happened. Yesterday my husband made the decision to admit himself into a mental hospital.

You see, he suffers with anxiety, depression, PTSD and bi-polar disorders. He has been regularly seeing a psychiatrist and counselor, but wasn't feeling better.

Tuesday, he reached out, went to urgent care and told them that not only had he been having suicidal thoughts but that he actually had a plan. I had no idea. How could I not have seen that something was horribly wrong?

I thank God that my amazing husband had the courage to speak up. Think about some of those who didn't, Robin Williams comes to mind. He suffered in relative silence for YEARS! Would he have been able to get the help he needed, we might have a different story.

But, people hesitate to come out and say something, because with mental illness diagnosis comes a stigma. You hear all about the mental health problems of every mass shooter. That doesn't mean that every mental illness sufferer is a killer. actually, I was startled to find this fact on mentalhealth.org:

...Most people with mental illness are not violent and only 3%-5% of violent acts can be attributed to individuals living with a serious mental illness. In fact, people with severe mental illnesses are over 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population....

Sometimes life sucks. Everyone has those days when they feel down. Sometimes it is more then that. Please, please, if you see signs in someone, something that concerns you, talk to them. More then anything, be there for them!

We can stop the stigma by talking about mental illness.

If you or someone you know is suffering with mental health issues, please seek help. There are lots of resources on this page for friends and family.