Ayaka Matsushita - 1(NIT (KOSEN), Kurume College)

Right Support for People with Mental Illness
Ayaka Matsushita (NIT (KOSEN), Kurume College)
Have you ever suffered from some kind of mental illness? How much do you
know about it? If someone close to you suffered from it, what would you do for them?
Mental illness has gradations according to its seriousness. People start to have lightones at first, but there are many cases where the mental conditions get worse
unconsciously.
I myself had a mental illness. When my condition was worse, I didn’t feel likedoing anything and kept sleeping at home or even in class. At other times, I got up andsuddenly started to cry. I was really unstable. I couldn’t concentrate and when I
tried to read words in books, it hardly meant anything. Even when I was in such acondition, I didn’t really notice that my mental condition went wrong. However, myhomeroom teacher suggested that I should have a counselling session, and so I did. Ialso went to psychiatry in a hospital. About two years had passed since I first startedto lose my mental balance. Like my case, as the mental illness cannot be recognized soeasily and it is invisible, people hardly try to go to a hospital to cure it in its early stage.
Therefore, the people around are key to let them know what they should do next.
It’s not abnormal for someone to get mental illness. As you can see, the numberof people with mood disorder has been increasing according to the Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare. One in five people is said to get some kind of mental illness intheir life in Japan. There are about one hundred eighty patients suffering fromdepression out of ten thousand in Fukuoka and the number is the highest in Japan,
reports Kubo, the statistic journalist. It means that about one person in fifty-fivestudents can be a depression patient.
What can we do to help those people who suffer from mental illness? People whohave some troubles with mental illness tend to show some kind of signs. For example,
they don’t have an appetite, tend to make more mistakes than before, or have lessinterest in things they like. If you find someone showing some of these signs, pleaselisten to them carefully and keep being close. Empathetic listening, where you repeat
empathetically what they say, would be of effective use. Don’t say any negative words
to them or include such phrases as “have you got better yet?” or “what is the cause ofyour mental trouble?” which you tend to say without a second thought. The person
himself does not know when he can recover and what the cause is. Those words may
drive the person into a corner. Especially, never deny anything about the person or
make them hurry, or ask the cause of the mental illness.
I kept going to a hospital and about half a year ago I stopped taking medicine andnow live a normal life. I am standing here now with the tremendous support of myfriends, teachers, counsellors, doctors and many others. The methods of treatment
vary according to the person, but it is sure that without other people’s support, it isimpossible to cure mental illness. Physical illness and mental illness are alike in thatanybody has the possibility of getting it. If you know someone around you who seems

Ayaka Matsushita - 2(NIT (KOSEN), Kurume College)
to be suffering, please speak to them and start supporting them.