The Child Mind Institute runs a really dynamite campaign each May for Mental Health Awareness Month called #MyYoungerSelf. Well known people from a variety of fields film a short video with a message they would give to their younger self of support. Each person addresses the disorder that affected them covering a wide range of disorders from personality to learning.The campaign runs like an advent calendar, with a new video posting each day. CB covered Kristen Bell’s message on anxiety and depression. Other folks who recorded messages include Actor Clark Gregg, MLS Legend Tim Howard and Investor/Business Mogul Charles Schwab. Yesterday, Big Bang Theory’s Mayim Bialik posted a video on her struggle with depression. Mayim’s message is a very good one, which is to seek help and keep looking until you find the help that works for you.
Mayim Bialik has an important message for anyone struggling with mental health: Don’t give up on seeking help.
“I think what I would have liked to tell my younger self about my mental health is that there are answers,” she says. “For me, some of those answers I had to wait years to find and I needed to get different help, which ended up being really the right kind of help.”
“But I had this notion when I was younger that if something didn’t work once, or if a therapist didn’t work, or if a medication didn’t work, that nothing would ever work,” she adds. “I wish I could have told my younger self that something will work — it’s just going to take sometimes more research, sometimes more referrals, and really figuring things out like your life depends on it. Because for me, it did.”
Maybe this on me, but I’ve not heard many people talking about how long it takes you to find the right solution. All messages of support are critical but I can really relate to this one. I remember certain avenues I sought didn’t work and my first reaction was that I was broken. That nothing could fix me because the ‘fix’ didn’t work. It took me a very long time to realize I needed a different fix and sometimes that took a while. I found her last comment, “really figuring things out like your life depends on it. Because for me, it did,” quite powerful.
Check out all the videos on the Child Mind Institute’s website. And remember they add a new one each day.
Photo credit: WENN Photos
I do agree with her statements here, but overall I am not interested in her opinions. On anything.
agreed
Yeah, this is the first time I can think of that I can say I agree with her. She’s such a problematic person the rest of the time. That said, I don’t wish mental health struggles on anyone- and even if I can’t stand the messenger it really is a great message this time.
preach 🙂
I mean I’m glad she’s advocating for mental health but she’s still garbage. She can advocate for this but is an anti-vaxxer, so apparently she gets to be picky about what public health crisis she gets behind 🙄
Yup!
I really appreciate celebrities when they speak from the heart about topics that have stigmas attached to them.
A relative called me last weekend about her son’s girlfriend, who is struggling with depression. She was trying to find someone who could talk to the girlfriend, someone who could relate. It was more of a “do you know anyone” conversation, and I think she was surprised when I told her I struggled with depression when I was younger, but for now I’m in a good place. It was the first time I actually admitted to anyone in my family that I sometimes had to fight hard against suicidal thoughts. And I also explained to her *why* I’d never told anyone in my family. As a society, we’ve come far in understanding mental health issues, even in just the last few years. However, there are still those people who don’t understand. Or think you should just be able to snap out of it. In my family, the attitude is sometimes life is shitty, but that’s just life and you deal with it. They just don’t understand. But attitudes like that create this sense of shame because you can’t just get on with it. And maybe your life isn’t shitty, but you still feel like you’re at the bottom of a black hole with no hope of escape. So then you heap that shame on top of the depression, and that hole just gets deeper and deeper.
Anyway, I got off track. I explained my personal coping mechanisms, and she thought that would apply to everyone. I had to explain everyone is different. Different drugs, different behavioral modifications. Just different strokes for different folks. And it’s a process. There’s no immediate “cure.” We live in a world where pharmaceuticals are the answer to everything. So it’s hard for people to understand there is no magic pill. Or to understand that the pill that works magic for one person doesn’t work for another. So I really like this message.
as a woman of color…. when i fell into depression…it was really hard to communicate that to someone, anyone … black people are suppose to be so strong and unbreakable but all i wanted to do was sleep, then couldnt when i tried, my hair came out, my eye started twitching and i lost 15 pounds in a month not eating, crying everday, chain smoking. depression really physically manifests itself for me.
my treatment…. was distraction as in adopting a formerly abused dog….we both pulled each other out of depression….slowly but surely.
find your cure or treatment…but know it could always reoccur …its just life.
I’m sending you a hug! :*
Sending you hugs, Ash. Glad you found treatment.
I struggle with depression as a WOC and you’re right, mental illness as a whole is generally tricky in the black community… I’m hopeful things will change for the better soon.
It’s a good message to hear, aside from the other problematic things she says.
However, it if makes the difference for even one person. Especially considering the death of Scott Hutchison. Frightened Rabbits music was truly wonderful and I am sad to see him gone.
that was really sad news about Scott Hutchison. 🙁
shows how fragile we are…
Also, it can take months to years to recover, no matter the treatment. I read the average time was 4-5 months whether you used meds or not. It is hard to be patient when you just want to be gone from the world..
And then there are people like me who have tried literally every treatment available with no help. Until pharmaceutical companies realize there are more types of depression than just simple lack of serotonin there is going to be a large chunk of people who aren’t helped.