Reducing the stigma around mental health
The richness of the English language with the word play we can create around it is a joy. But when we lose sight of the true meaning behind these words, we can cause great misunderstanding and, in some examples, pain and suffering and this is certainly true of words such as depression, stress and anxiety.
My husband has depression and I didn’t know for the longest time.
That was hard to write, because while this isn’t about me, I can’t tell you how bad I feel for failing to support him enough in those first few lonely months.
Can the way you speak and write today predict your future mental state, even the onset of psychosis? In this fascinating talk, neuroscientist Mariano Sigman reflects on ancient Greece and the origins of introspection to investigate how our words hint at our inner lives and details a word-mapping algorithm that could predict the development of schizophrenia.
Ash Beckham offers a fresh approach to empathy and openness. It starts with understanding that everyone, at some point in their life, has experienced hardship. The only way out, says Beckham, is to open the door and step out of your closet.
A key part of the stigma surrounding mental health conditions is the view that those who suffer from them are weak. We see and uses phrases such as ‘break under pressure’, ‘wasn’t strong enough’ etc. On the flip side there is a growing view that a condition such as depression Continue Reading
The saying goes that in life only death and taxes are assured. However I would add in the basic human need to be happy. We all seek it and we all have our own wildly different views on how to achieve happiness.
Photographer Christian Sampson has created a stunning collection of work covering how it is to live with mental disorders.