People plagued with mental health problems such as depression or anxiety are ridiculed for their lack of coping with the realities of life. However, no one wants to see the situation from their eyes. Such remarks from society render people mute those who had planned to come out and talk about their mental health problems with their families and other people. They experience sudden bouts of anger, suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), are afflicted with eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia, and lose their self-confidence almost entirely. They feel severe anxiety that stems from their paranoid view of every situation.
Living with mental problems is not easy. One doesn’t eat or sleep right. Also, coping with mental illness is easier said than done. Coping methods to treat this varies from person to person. Because the perception of pain and suffering is different for everyone and so is the level of mental illness. Some of the common self-help methods include meditation, yoga, exercising, eating a balanced diet, and sleep sufficiently. However, not everyone is lucky enough to get cured of such problems with these suggested methods only. When push comes to shove, people need to reach out for other support mechanisms such as physical therapy, communicative therapy, and even medications.
For Lexi Kayser, staff writer for the student news website of Saint Louis University, medication is her weapon. Battling with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and eating disorders for the most part of her life, she finally turned to medications. Psych medicines became the ambrosia she needed to relieve herself of her various mental health problems. She explains, “In my recovery, medication was absolutely the best decision for me. Today, I am living with a renewed and ever-present joy that I haven’t felt in years. And that’s not because of yoga. That’s not because of sunshine. That’s because of therapy and Prozac.” The best advice is to go with whatever coping mechanism one feels at comfort with- be it self-help, medication, or therapy.
Dibyasha Das