Be Aware of Your Mental Health: Support System that Could Heal

Last Wednesday, 26 February 2020, IDN Times’ event about “Be Aware of Your Mental Health” in 2020 talked very deeply about the state of our mental health. It started with a brief discussion by Sri Juwita K, M.Psi about the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. A psychologist would study mental processes and human behavior by observing and interpreting how people related to one another and the environment. On the other hand, a psychiatrist, she said, was a medical doctor specializing in mental health, including disorders and she/he was allowed to give a prescription.

Hana Madness as a mental disorder survivor and activist mentioned, “The environment around us will be the factor affecting our mental state the most, I believe. I once lived in an 'unhealthy' environment where I got abusive mistreatments from some people there: verbally, sexually, physically. I knew I had something that wasn't right since I was in kindergarten―self-harms, suicide attempts, things like that." As she grew older, she decided to meet professionals and found out she had bipolar. 

As a psychologist, Juwita, then, explained briefly what actually bipolar was. "Bipolar disorder is one of the forms of psychotic disorder causing hallucination and delusion. This kind of disorder attacks 3 aspects of a person, such as mood, mind, and behavior so that she/he may not be productive, able to contribute and maintain positive relationships with the people around her/him. When a person has these characteristics, she/he should really see a professional," Juwita explained. 

After several visits to a professional psychiatrist, Hana started understanding what she could do to cope with the mental disorder she had. She confessed, "There's a saying 'You love yourself first and you'll end up loving others sincerely', but for me, it doesn't simply go like that. I can't love myself because there are many stressors here and there. I can consider myself to be valuable when I finally find the right support system, namely my family."

By the comfort we could get from our family, there would be a lot of other things we could discover, such as healthy lifestyles, unknown talents that could lead us into a place we never imagined before. In Hana's case, it was drawing that could heal her. Remember, mental illness would never be your fault, so never lose hope.