In honor of National Mental Health Awareness Month, WEGO Health conducted a Health Activist Roundtable with several members of the online Depression community – Tiffany, Corey, Dani, Will, and Patrick. They shared some very honest and important feedback based on their experiences within the community and we wanted to make sure you had a chance to hear from them as well:
“These kids yearn to talk to someone about “ suicidiation” and self-injury and not be ostracized for it. It’s the “S” word. I think it’s healthy to talk about it if it’s a part of your life because the more you get it out the more you’ll start to heal.” –Tiffany
“I do most of my work on YouTube, video blogging. It’s a close knit community of younger people who feel more comfortable opening up. I wish there was a way for it to not be so public because it does help to keep things face to face, and there have been times where I’ve wanted to take all of my videos down because I’ve felt vulnerable. I’m now at the point where I would never consider doing that but for others who are just starting then it can be hard as you get some negative feedback.” –Dani
“What we need is a hotline to direct them to those [mental health] centers. There is no intermediary step for people to get services without going into crisis. The way the system is set up is very frustrating and it doesn’t provide quality care.” –Patrick
“The medications for depression are more controversial and less documented than in other areas. The modalities that are used, some of which are well documented and some of which aren’t. Treatment options are very confusing because people don’t really know what to believe or who to trust. Opinions are polarized in terms of use of medication. Mental health is unique in terms of how controversial and confused the scene is.” –Will
“People would be surprised to know that we can still be creative. Sometimes I write about people that are famous that struggled with depression. You can be a success. You can have depression and borderline personality disorder and all sorts of mental illnesses and still have a successful life.” –Corey
“We’re not always on the edge of being locked up. We express extreme emotional states that might not be positive but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get better. We’re not being manipulative or avoiding treatment or health.” –Tiffany
“Though readership is fairly robust, participation is low. I blog under my real name and I don’t hide much. This is the only way we will move past the point where people feel so ashamed. The only way we will do this is by modeling the behavior, by having more people that present themselves as having mental illness or condition and having a full and productive life. It’s a hard way to go but it’ll have a bigger impact.” –Will
Be sure to follow these awesome Health Activists:
Will
www.willspirit.com and @willspiritM
Patrick
http://www.shareyourblues.com and @ShareYourBlues
Dani
http://youtube.com/uer/thedanizblog and @thedanizblog
Tiffany
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Borderline-Personality-Disorder-Coping-Awareness/381410498561987 and @RiotGrrrlJax
Corey
http://hopeisreal.blogspot.com and @hopepersists
Want to participate in an upcoming Health Activist Roundtable? Sign up here: Health Activist Roundtable
