Misuse of Mental Health and Its Consequences
By: Maaidah Durrani
Tags: Social Media, Mental Health Awareness, Mental Health

There is nothing that irks me more than when I'm online and see things that essentially take mental health disorders and side effects, and belittle them to things that happen once a blue moon or even worse, they make it seem super common and absolutely no big deal. Maybe they are common, but that doesn't mean they aren't a big deal, especially when it comes to how it affects our health. Everyone’s struggles are different and I am in no way trying to say that they’re wrong and I’m right, this is more about when people take painful symptoms and side effects of serious illnesses and make them seem as though they’re so easy to get through or that they're not a big deal.

It's how they make disassociation and ‘zoning out’ seem synonymous when they are in fact not the same at all. I have spent days up to WEEKS feeling like a ghost in my own body, suffering from memory lapses, and feeling completely out of touch with the world around me. This has caused me to avoid going to classes, avoid doing work, avoid basic things like eating simply because I don't see the consequences or well I can’t see them. There are these blank spaces all throughout my memories and just imagine what that would feel like. Not remembering full days, full weeks, important events you attended, who you’ve met, and what you’ve done. It’s beyond terrifying. And for so long I thought had a very chronic and terminal illness and my life span was being cut in half. But no, I was disassociating. And for SO LONG I thought it meant ‘zoning out’. And oh my God was I wrong. Every video, tweet, comment I saw using this word so easily and without second thought led me to believe that this was normal and totally fine.

News Flash! It’s not.

It's even worse when people open up about their struggles, trying to bring awareness to the troubles of mental health and how it isn't just black and white and others go out of their way to claim “oh everyone deals with this, it’s not a super big thing just work on doing better!!!1!1!! dRiNK WaTEr!!!1111!!.”

News Flash! (The Sequel)Shut The Fuck Up.

It doesn’t work that way. You’re just flat out wrong in like, EVERY WAY possible. You aren't allowed to dictate other’s personal feelings about THEIR personal struggles. I feel like I shouldn't even have to say that but here we are. Disappointing. It’s such a shame that most of our ‘knowledge’ (whether true or untrue) comes from social media. Things like this should be taught in school!

Imagine how different we would be if we learned about all these things earlier on in a learning environment where false information is filtered out. Even now, us teenagers trying to figure out what trash future we’re gonna choose and what college to try and get into can still benefit from being sat down in a classroom (or in light of this pandemic, a Zoom meeting) and getting walked through symptoms, triggers, signs of illness and helpful solutions, places to go and seek help, and most importantly how to deal with these things as adults in the ‘real world’. Just imagine how much greener the grass would be if our education system genuinely cared about us.

Oh, what a dream.