The Silencing of Mental Illness

Mental illness causes a loss of self. One loses the ability to clearly and rationally think for themselves. Becoming someone so unlike who you truly are is an extreme type of agony. The harder one may try to change their mood or do things that they would normally do, the worse the feelings become and the more impossible simple tasks become. What’s worse is the inability to communicate the pain and agony that one is undergoing when dealing with some type of mental illness.

“If the pain were readily describable most of the countless sufferers from this ancient affliction would have been able to confidently depict for their friends and loved ones, even their physicians, some of the actual dimensions of their torment, and perhaps elicit a comprehension that has been generally lacking. Such incomprehension has usually been due, not to a failure of sympathy, but to the basic inability of healthy people to imagine a form of torment so alien to everyday experience. For myself, the pain is most closely connected to drowning or suffocation. But even these images are off the mark. Psychologist and philosopher William James, who battled depression for many years gave up the search for an adequate portrayal implying the near impossibility…” – Aaron Kheriaty.

This inability to communicate the pain that one experiences with mental illness causes a greater sense of loneliness and isolation. “The insidious power of mental illnesses to break down and debilitate the sufferer lies partly in their being simultaneously non-verbal and de-verbalizing, ineffable and silencing. They elude powers of speech even while they rob the person of such powers, making articulation of the pain even more difficult and less likely.” – Emily Stetler. This silencing convinces the person that they are the only ones feeling the way that they do, making them begin to want to blame themselves. Those who haven’t experienced it will assume that they know what it is like, causing them to try to tell those struggling with mental illness what they need to do to get better, when in reality, no one truly knows what it is like until they experience it for themselves.

People who experience or have experienced some kind of mental illness view the world differently. We can learn from them, for weakness leads to God. In John chapter nine, Jesus says that a man’s disability is not because he or his parents have sinned, “but it is so that the work of God may be manifested in him.”

The reason I want to advocate for mental health is because typically those experiencing it are unable to effectively advocate for themselves, at least it is extremely difficult. I want to start the conversation about it, because this topic is so often just hushed. I want to be a voice for those who feel like they have lost theirs. I want to shed a little light on the darkness that is mental illness.

As always, you are all in my prayers, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you are in need of someone to talk to.