Can “S” be the next letter people will talk about?
When you hear the letter “big C” what do you think of? Cancer. When we hear of the letters LGBTQ, we can think different things, however what’s important is these letters represent the ways in which people have chosen to “come out” about their gender.
So what about the letter “S” what do you think of when you hear that? What’s the topic that someone’s coming out about?
What if the letter “S” represents Suicide, and Suicide Ideation or “SI”, the initials that I heard when I was in the ER after my second suicide attempt. What if we could speak about this and mental illness as much as we can talk about physical illness?
It’s become a lot more acceptable in many cultures and countries to speak openly about cancer and gender. However, even though the pandemic has raised awareness about mental health/mental illness there’s still a stigma. People still don’t want to talk about getting help or coming out like they would for
cancer and gender.
As a two-time suicide survivor, I’m on a mission to be a voice to end the stigma around mental illness, so that we spot the signs and symptoms sooner such that someone doesn’t get to crisis stage and attempt suicide. Did you know that when attempting suicide, I didn’t really want to die, I just didn’t
know how to live anymore!
Isn’t it interesting that we are more likely to be accepting of attending the funeral of someone who has died by suicide, however we are not willing, don’t accept, because of the stigma, to have the tough conversations when someone’s alive and feels suicidal. As an aside: words matter. We don’t
say “committed suicide.” The word commit infers something bad. You commit a crime, you commit a sin. So we say someone “died by suicide.”
Mental health IS health. Just like physical health. You can be mentally ill, like you can be physically ill. Mental illness can lead to suicidal thoughts and, sadly, death. Similar to physical well-being, prevention is better than cure. The same applies to mental wellbeing. A lot of us have likely felt sad, hopeless, stressed out, got the blues – especially over the last year. That can be normal as we need a certain amount of healthy stress. However, when that begins to impact our daily living and the way we interact with others, that’s when it becomes a problem. The statistics tell us that if we feel these sad feelings for 2-3 weeks continuously, then it’s time to seek help. Yet, it can take on average 10 years before someone seeks help! A little longer than 2-3 weeks right?
What if the treatment for the illness doesn’t require medication, or hospitalization? What if the changes needed are more to do with lifestyle? Wouldn’t that take away some of the stigma around mental health? Why is it that we treat the brain and the body as two separate entities? I mean the last time I looked,
my head and body are still connected. Yet, it’s ok to talk about problems from the neck down, but not the neck up!
Interestingly it’s through the Vagus nerve that our brains and bodies are physically connected. There’s a lot of research taking place on the vagus nerve and the brain gut connection. One piece of research that I found extremely fascinating is that more than 90% of our serotonin is in fact in our gut and not our brain! We are what we eat!
This means that there are still people like me, that eat somewhat healthy (I do like the odd treat), and do still need to take medication. However, there’s a large percentage of people who are living in the darkness with a mental illness. If they were to come out sooner, they could become healthy through changes to lifestyle. It’s important to seek medical help before making any changes.
So many people who have a mental illness hide it. They look “normal” on the outside. Just like me. I was working in corporate America and looked like I had it all together. Yet, in the last 6 years I have attempted suicide twice. The first in 2014. I was in a psych unit for ten days and out patient for three weeks. The second attempt was in September 2020. I was in a residential psychiatric unit for seventy-five days and out patient for six weeks.
It was great to see many athletes in the Summer of 2021, think Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, come out on the subject of mental health. The more people stand up and talk, the more we can be confident that we are not alone if we have a mental health condition. Because mental health is taboo, too many people are not getting the treatment they need. When more people stand up, we can hopefully see a reduction in deaths by suicide. Because of this, I do believe the letter “S” can become the next “C” or “LGBTQ.” The stigma can come to an end, if we are all prepared to stand up and talk more on the topic of mental health and how we are feeling. We need people to know, it’s ok to not be ok. AND it’s OK to reveal this!
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About the Author
Elaine Sephton – The Real English Elaine Mental Health & Wellbeing Advocate EBE, CHPC, AMHFA
As a 2x suicide survivor, I left my +30-year Corporate America experience where I worked in the “people business” both in industry and consulting. I know what it’s like to sit on both sides of the table. I want to focus energy on my passion and purpose – helping people improve Mental Health & Wellbeing so they can live the life they have been created for. Author of My Crazy Summer a memoir, God Medication and Me, my book tells the story of my first suicide attempt in 2014. It describes the tension between faith and medication together with the importance of ‘being real.’
For me, the most important designation I have is EBE. Expert By Experience. I have a wealth of professional training, AND I also have THE experience. A certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor through the National Council of Mental Well-being, I deliver programs for Adults, Fire & EMS, Public Safety. Creator of You Are Not Alone for Business – a program to move from awareness to action in the Mental Health and Well-being space.
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