Mental Health shouldn't be a struggle

To Struggle (v): make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction.

That just about sums it up! The verb "To Struggle" should be reserved for physical struggles and physical struggles alone - as it was originally intended.

In recent history, the verb (and noun) morphed and grew into modern day language to indicate the encounter between 2 or more logical, cognitive and different viewpoints - an argument of sorts. And, most recently, and most worryingly, it has slipped into everyday language as an indication of the cognitive processes involved when someone is trying to resolve some form of mental health episode... "I'm struggling with depression"

I assert that the use of the word in a mental health context needs to be used carefully, and for that reason the word will not appear again in this article. Why?

I have been in my own dark hole. I know what that despair feels like and I know that making forward, positive progress can be challenging. But, with help, I made it. And I certainly don't want to underestimate that task in this article.

However, why make the potential journey even harder. When I was in my own dark place I learnt that "every word counts". An innocent comment or a wrong word from a family member, a friend, a work colleague, a medical or helping practitioner could set a sequence of bad thought patterns off on their own little rampage in my mind .

The word in question could give the mind the feeling that this is going to be a hard, hard fight; that actually I may not be victorious; that there is something deep and evil to fight against; that I could get hurt in the progress. And, what the mind believes, it will do all it can to bring to life. So in this circumstance, I might take on that persona, and how I hold myself physically may change, how I think may change and how I feel may also change; all in a detrimental way.

So, why give my experience any more power than it already has? Why not take away some of it's power by changing the language that I use?

I have recently been running sessions at my work - a large, multi-national company - about my own mental health experiences; how to see the signs, how to ask someone if they need help and what organisations and resources are available to help. During these sessions I am very careful to use other more uplifting and positive language. I believe talking about my mental health experiences, or my mental health episodes, or even my mental health events helps to paint a picture of working it through. Using the "s" word could paint the same picture, but coloured in to produce an overly negative montage.

When I speak at these sessions, or even during a 1-2-1, I want to leave my audience with a vision of hope; that this "thing" can be transient - that there was a beginning and there could, I hope, be an end. And, that it is an experience that can, in many situations, be worked through. It is my view that using the ugly word has the potential to take those possibilities away. And, when you're in a dark place, we all need the hope that possibilities bring.

In conclusion, let me say that you may agree or disagree with my assertion that experiences, episodes or events are a better way of describing Mental Health. But, I think it is not up for debate that "every word counts", particularly when dealing with Mental Health - or as I like to call it "Mental Fitness".

Oops, there I go again...