Destigmatising Mental Illness

It's a very fruitful Sunday than sleeping like a log :) Attended a public forum on Destigmatising Mental Illness. Inspiring sharings from various types of people across different fields, from psychiatrics, psychologist, doctor to patients.

Mental health issues have been quite alarming recently in Malaysia. The awareness finally began and professionals are taking endless effort in educating the citizen. It's not something to be ashamed of. Often at times, we only will feel "eeeeeeew, this fella is crazy!" In this forum, we get to understand some misconceptions, whether it's science or non-science factors or how mental illness comes about.

One thing that i must mention in this is, social support from our surrounding is very important. Support group was repetitively and highly emphasized by the professionals. He asked "pls name me 5 of ur best friends in 20secs." No kidding, I can hardly spell my best friends on the paper. Why would I have such hesitation. Doctor was right, he said, we can never have 1 best friend. We need to find more, if not, 1 best friend decides to leave us and we'll be left with nobody and it'll cause depression. Haha! That's kinda true. What we gotta remember is, we're not living for anyone in this world. We're living for ourselves :) Even the whole decides to fall apart, we still have us! :)

What's more, 2 noble mothers took the floor with their experience sharing of the recovery journey from mental illness. Tears were struggling in my eyes, to listen to a single mother raises two children with mental illness all by herself. The tormenting 17 crazy years were shocking. Imagine, it's 17 years and right now, she's standing in front of everyone telling us how proud she is towards her children. So much of courage, so much of patience and preseverance. How wonderful God provided her, to sustain her with energy and strong will with the beliefs of never give up. We can't measure the love that our mother provided to us. We can't ever measure with a yardstick. No. This is called the unconditional love. Surprisingly, mothers never gave up on children that easily as compared to fathers. So many single mum in the forum today.

We never know how blessed we are until we listen to the stories of others and gaining insights from day to day. Together, we shall fight this stigma of mental health. It can be healed with our willing heart :)