Day 3 - 286 -- A Health Conundrum

There has been something nagging at me for a while now. Open discussion about mental health issues has been growing. Several public campaigns to give permission to talk about mental health have involved testimonials from many living with such health difficulties. This can put a face on the health problem. I've seen improved understanding and willingness to talk openly amongst younger adults -- a definite ray of hope in shrinking the public stigma surrounding mental health situations.

Back to what irks me -- all conversations that speak about mental health have a goal to normalize such diagnoses -- working to validate these as bona fide health issues. I do believe this needs to be done. My questions surround the nomenclature. The term mental health still segregates this group of health problems from the very issues the conversation is trying to use as an overarching umbrella. Why not begin to speak of this grouping of diagnoses as medical conditions instead of using a different term that only serves to continue to separate mental health from medical care. Physiological and biochemical bases occur in all medical conditions -- including those covered under the mental health term. Does this separated terminology further entrench the social stigma of mental health issues as somehow less than real? Perhaps it is time for us to rethink how we are addressing mental health, if we are to move the campaign for understanding and acceptance forward. Giving a face to the campaign can be helpful, since it is no different from heart disease or osteoporosis in this aspect. Depression is one diagnosis that is often presented during conversations. A statistic that I read a few years ago noted that in adults over the age of 50, about 90% had some personal experience with depression. If this is the case, there are more people who know about this diagnosis first hand, so shouldn't the stigma be lessened just because of this? That one still has me working away to reconcile those figures. In any case, it may be time to speak about specific diagnoses rather than the nebulous term mental health, particularly if we want to add legitimacy to these medical issues.

An interesting song line ran through my mind for this one. It surprised me a bit, but showed that it seems to be a communication difficulty in my mind -- a conversation that speaks about a legitimate issue yet uses language that may not fully validate the problem at hand. The lyrics present different ways of seeing something and the need for clear communication to move forward.

We can work it out -- The Beatles