Support

The thing about support is people, especially people with a mental illness, are terrified to ask for it. No one likes feeling helpless, no one likes to be a bother. They also might think it is weak to need support, which is actually wrong, as asking for support is one of the harder things to do, this makes them strong when they can finally come to you.

People with a mental illness often feel like a burden to the people who care for them, and it is very often hard to see past that. Especially when they have reached out for help before and not received it or had been laughed at. That is a common occurrence sadly. When someone feels like a burden, they tend to keep things bottled up, this can result in some bad things. For example, some people with bipolar can have worse mood swings. Some people can have rage attacks, others can go into a depression, and still others can go so deep as to take their own life.

The consequences of not opening up can be awful, but there are ways to get around this! If someone you care about has a mental illness having them open up is essential. Showing people that you care about them makes everyone feel better, mentally suffering or not. The only difference here is that if it is someone who has a mental illness, the act of showing that you care can save them from more inner turmoil. We constantly need to have the reassurance, and maybe that sounds silly to you and maybe you don’t understand but it can make a world of difference.

The reason for so much reassurance is our emotional state. We long to be like people who don’t need it and berate ourselves when we feel like we need it. Trust me when I say that no one is harder on someone than their self, and the same exists for people with mental illnesses. People need to know that their feelings are validated so they don’t feel insane. And those of us with emotional handicaps can find it hard not to feel insane and unvalidated.

If you care for someone with a mental illness, make it a point to address their emotional state, they won’t always feel like talking about it, but the more you do this the more comfortable they will start to feel about opening up. This is so important to help keep them more balanced.

All the best,

~TKNott~