Reflection by Chi
Hello! My name is Chi, and I'm a freshman planning to major in Economics.
Back then, I was much more close-minded and lacked knowledge about mental health. Upon having my first encounter with someone that had very severe mental health issues, I was very intimidated and immediately formulated a very extreme, black-and-white perception of mental health. I drew a line between "the abnormal people who suffer from mental health issues" and "the normal people who do not suffer from mental health issues". I did not believe that the two could have any area of overlap and were strictly separated by that unreasonable boundary I constructed in my mind. That certainly was my largest misconception about mental health.
It took me a while to realize, both after doing research and exposing myself to more different kinds of people, that mental health is a spectrum. It cannot be over-simplified as two separate 'types' of people. Because there are circumstances where we fall into the gray area where specific happenings and situations push us into times of downfall. And during these times, anyone could be vulnerable to mental health problems. Perhaps it is exactly the stigma and label of people with mental health issues being "abnormal" that caused such a line to be drawn, which prevented people from reaching out to the people with mental health issues because of fear. Upon being able to fix this misconception and learning that mental health is a spectrum, and we all fall somewhere along that complex spectrum - that is what personally made me be able to empathize with the people who are facing mental health issues.
It can be scary and intimidating to reach out to people who struggle with mental health issues, I concede - because we are scared that we might hurt them, and we are scared that they might hurt us. However, I believe that with enough knowledge and empathy and a clear sense of boundary, we can - and should - lend our hand to them. Because they are not "those abnormal people"; they are just like who we are - humans, living, and struggling, and fighting.
Commenti