The Screening Of Hiding In Plain Sight
I had the great opportunity of attending a community screening of the documentary, Hiding In Plain Sight, about youth mental illness.
For all of us who are deeply invested in the mental wellbeing of our loved ones, this is a must watch. This documentary shows us life of those hit hard by addiction, psychosis, and acute loneliness.
It really pushes us to understand that mental health doesn’t discriminate between rural, urban populations, and doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor. Mental illness can be anywhere – at homes, schools and even at work places. Mental illness can be chronic or an overwhelming feeling of being stuck that comes and goes.
Children ages 11 to adults ages 40 describe to us how they’re called nuts, crazy and these labels contribute to perpetuating the stigma around mental health. Professionals call it illness, challenge or disorder. Whatever it is called, mental health has been a part of the human condition as long we’ve existed. At this moment, there are hundreds of diagnoses available in a counselor’s or a psychiatrists database.
The onset of 75% of chronic mental health disorders occurs by the mid-20s (Kessler et al., 2007) And 50% of those before they turn 14. Because it is a deeply personal experience, lot of people don’t understand that they can still seek help for their own unique condition.
No matter where you are, intervention can help you sort it out. The most difficult step is to start talking about it. Once you do, you realise that there are people all around you who can help you get back on track. Morgan, 26, says she wants to talk about it because she might be able to help others see that its ok to live with a mental health diagnosis. This thing that ancient philosophers had called the “inner darkness“.
Around 3rd grade, one of the kids describes it as experiencing sad feelings. Is it our nature, that its in our genes or is it our nurture, that our environment led us down this path. This is not an either or situation. There are many reasons why mental health can get affected. There are many triggers, like early childhood trauma, pandemics, natural disasters, racial injustice, random acts of violence. The list goes on.
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