Although we’ve made progress in recent decades, mental health challenges and emotional struggles can still be secret, unspoken burdens for some. Cultural expectations may stunt crucial conversations and healing. It’s easier to believe that heavy emotional weights or debilitating states of mind will pass, even if they never do.
Myth: “My child or I would feel or look weak if we acknowledged that we were struggling with our mental health.”
The research is clear: Not only does the stigma around mental illness prevent people from obtaining the support they need, it sometimes means they may initially get treatment but discontinue it or suffer worse outcomes from clinical support.
Parents and children, both individually and in their relationships with one another, can break down barriers by simply recognizing and calling out common myths about mental health. In the context of both World Mental Health Day and Mental Illness Awareness Week this October, this is a first step toward less stigma, better outcomes, and greater equity for everyone’s mental and emotional well-being.
Myth: “My child won’t be able to live a normal life if I acknowledge their mental illness.”
In a well-meaning way, parents can become anxious that reaching out for support will alienate their child from friends, teachers, and other community connections. However, the reality is that supporting a child’s mental health helps them build strong, healthy relationships and community connections.
Myth: “Only a professional can support someone with mental illness.”
It’s true that many mental health challenges require assistance from trained, licensed mental health professionals. Sometimes that work happens outside of daily life, at an in-patient or intensive outpatient facility.
But other family members, friends, school peers and co-workers are all critically important parts of the social fabric that supports a child outside of the clinician’s office. Nurturing, supportive, trusted relationships enable healing and growth that is necessary for mental wellness and healthy social and emotional development.
Myth: “Having good mental health means always having it together.”
Anger, disappointment, sadness, frustration, and grief are normal emotions, but they’re not what you’ll see on most Instagram feeds.
Strong emotions are often messy and hard to manage. Maintaining good emotional and mental health is more about how well we can cope with these things, not whether they happen at all.
Children at any age can struggle to adjust to major changes in life or during times of loss. Parents, especially new ones, can find that some or all of what they dreamed parenting would be is different from the reality.
If you start to feel you are sinking, that’s a sign to reach out for support.
Combating stigma, expanding access
It’s worth acknowledging that many of these steps and encouragements are much easier said than done for far too many of our neighbors. The self-perception that mental healthcare would be hard to receive is reflected back by the realities of many Americans. Racial, gender, and sexual minorities in the U.S. are less likely to receive the care and support they need and deserve — a reality that is clearly backed by data.
If you’re in a position to help, especially as a parent or guardian, consider what you can do to make the path easier for someone to seek the support they need. Know that a simple, “Are you okay?” when someone is struggling is the perfect way to begin.
Rachael DeSaussure, LPC-MHSP, NCC, is assistant clinical director of Kindred Place.