Throughout your life, your experiences shape you. What you've seen, heard and experienced feels like second nature; but at some point in time we have to decide how to respond to the things we can't relate to.
Things that are not familiar to you might seem odd until you take the time to hear the other person’s point of view. In most circumstances, empathy is built through experience — whether it be first-hand or through a friend or relative.
No situation displays that better than mental health. The majority of mental health advocates either have previously struggled with mental health issues or have someone close to them who has. It can be hard to understand mental health struggles until they're right in front of you.
But it is possible to have empathy toward someone with different experiences than you. It takes getting out of your comfort zone and interacting with new people. One organization at Auburn that encourages this is Active Minds.
Active Minds: Auburn Chapter is a club with the purpose of gaining awareness for students with mental health struggles. They aim to reduce stigmas surrounding mental health, especially stigmas saying people with mental health struggles are “dramatic,” “crazy,” or that they’re acting.
Nora Heeney, co-president of Active Minds, is a nursing student at Auburn pursuing a role in psychiatric nursing, and she reported seeing the role of mental health sometimes being undervalued and not taken seriously in healthcare settings.
“I see the word ‘crazy’ thrown around a lot,” Heeney said. “I think that’s something, as a society, that we need to step back from because it takes away from the experiences of those people. It just puts them in this little box and that whole generalization keeps or limits them from seeking help.”
While mental health is becoming more acknowledged in today’s society — particularly on college campuses due to the stress of life in college — seeking help for mental health problems can still be seen as unnecessary, mentally weak or attention-seeking.
I sat down with two leaders from Active Minds, Heeney and club secretary Christian Lomack, to discuss how these stigmas can be broken. Here are some tips I compiled following that conversation to help improve etiquette for interacting with students struggling with mental health.
Know the facts
Mental health can be related similarly to physical health. Thus, the approach to treatment can be similar.
In response to the notion that going to therapy or taking medication for mental health is unnecessary, Lomack compared having a mental health concern to having a broken leg or a wound. There are some differences in the timetable and approach to treatment, but the concept of using healthcare treatment to promote healing is the same in mental health as it is for physical health, damage, injuries or wounds.
To the idea that mental health problems can be “toughed out” or dealt with on your own, Heeney communicated and emphasized that mental health is a real issue that should be handled cautiously. If the words and experiences of others aren't enough, scientific fact is available to back them up.
“I think seeing the scientific side of how your neurotransmitters can be imbalanced helps show that it’s not really that different from a physical issue,” Heeney said. “That would help people see, like, ‘OK, this is real. This is something that you don’t have full control over.’ Using medical treatment is so beneficial to help give you the tools to find that homeostasis again.”
Help validate feelings
Taking mental health issues seriously means making their perspective feel valid and not undermining their feelings.
One common response that people often have to hearing about a mental health issue is comparing it to their own situation. That makes sense, as a lot of college students go through similar situations and can likely relate to the other person. Comparison is something we do to help ourselves understand or empathize, and it can be helpful when utilized in the appropriate way.
However, it’s imperative to not imply that your situation is worse or harder than someone else's.
Putting yourself in other people’s shoes and seeing things from their perspective is a good thing, but part of empathy is understanding that you might not fully get it. It is beneficial to acknowledge that their situation is difficult and that the hardships of others don’t take away from the reality of their suffering.
“I think instead of comparing, just learning how to carry weight together is something that’s very important,” Heeney said.
Don’t be a bystander
The stigmas that prevent action from being taken against mental health struggles only hinder progress and delay healing.
The instances where mental health issues get out of control are often the ones that build up over time. If these concerns are taken seriously and dealt with earlier, treatment can be much more effective.
Organizations like Active Minds work to spread awareness, which helps start a conversation, but true change can only be made when people act upon seeing something wrong or experiencing something unhealthy.
In the end, breaking the stigma requires courage to take action. That action takes a collective effort from the student body — or whatever community the person is a part of — to create and maintain an environment where people look out for one another.
“The biggest thing is [speaking up] when you see something wrong,” Heeney said. “Instead of pointing the finger, maybe just offering a different perspective. Like, ‘You have to consider the whole picture of what someone else is going through…’ Also, just getting rid of our picture of ‘normal’ and seeing that we’re all carrying something. We were never meant to carry that alone.”
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