It’s hard to be concise with this topic. Probably because it’s intertwined with the feelings, and the feelings are complicated; it’s what makes us individuals. Oftentimes people don’t want to talk about it or share their own experiences out of fear it exposes their vulnerabilities and how they will be received. I think that’s why it’s become a social stigma that some are trying to challenge. However, there is a growing concern that it’s now becoming trendy and used as an excuse to take time off.
We all go through ups and downs, it’s just that for some these mood swings take on more extreme proportions. I’m 53 and have suffered from suicidal depression since I was 15, and like an alcoholic, you’re never cured. You simply hope to learn how to live with it, be that through medication, therapy and lifestyle. I don’t know how it is for more severe mental conditions, but a person needs to want to tackle the problem in order to find how to manage it. It’s also true that one has to learn not to focus too much attention on it, without pretending it’s not there. It’s balance; respecting the weakness one has and finding the strength that this weakness gives you.
It’s good to see this stigma being challenged. Hopefully, it will lead to health services paying more attention to it. At the moment it’s a secondary issue to physical health, albeit the medical profession is already aware of how a person’s mental/emotional health affects the physical body. It’s hard to gauge mental health, even for the ‘professionals’, so it’s important to learn how to be honest about how one feels. To know when a feeling is a casual upset that will pass, and when it’s a danger sign to something more extreme. As corny as it sounds, this has to come from society learning to be more caring, even loving, and less materialistic.
Looking at myself, and my own inner society of thought, wishes and feelings, it’s important if we want a healthy society.
Rashad Carre

NICE Mental Health Art Therapy
How can art and design bring people together to improve our mental health?
Illustration:Lena Yokoyama
It’s Nice That is part of the The Hudson Bec Group