TL;DR: We don't spend enough time talking about mental health.

Although mental health is being discussed more in recent years, it is still a fairly taboo subject. It is still seen as normal to take a day off from work if you have a physical illness but is not as common to take a day off work if you are having a bad mental health day.

Mental health is just as important as physical health, and is so important for our overall quality of life, which is why we need to continue to talk about it until it becomes more normalised and accepted!

TL;DR - It is so important to talk about mental health, especially after 18 months of on-and-off lockdowns. However, I think sometimes it means people self-diagnose rather than facing their problems.

Lockdown, Lockdown, Lockdown. Our lives for the last year have been changed in a way that no one could have ever foreseen. Locked up indoors with little to no contact face-to-face with any one not in our household. Of course, after this year, talking about our mental health openly and freely is essential to get through these unprecedented times.

There has been a steady increase of google searches for [mental health over the past 5 years] (https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=GB&q=mental%20health) but a huge increase in [COVID and mental health] (https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=covid%20mental%20health&date=today%205-y&geo=GB) over the last year, for obvious reasons. We talk a lot about mental health and how it is essential to open up. [Suicide is still one of the UK’s biggest killers in young men,] (https://ben.org.uk/our-services/health-and-wellbeing/top-searches/mens-health/suicide/) so talking and opening up is something that really is essential in these testing times. Even during the Euros we hear before every advert “Britain - get talking”. More and more we are told to mention our mental health to encourage transparency and honesty with one another which is a great thing.

The only thing I feel is slightly problematic is that I do believe sometimes that ignorance is bliss. Sometimes we don’t need to label every thought we have or every feeling that happens. Just because you are nervous for an exam - doesn’t mean you have anxiety, just like if you cry at a movie - you are not depressed. I think people are now so acutely aware of any change in mood that it exacerbates our human need for control and labelling things.

As much as talking about our mental health and problems is a great thing - and it sure is - there are downsides to the excessive need for labelling. Peoples use of language now is more dramatic which I think has a knock-on effect on mental health. For example, a person who said “oh I am nervous for this exam” compared to a person who said “oh I am anxious person so I have anxiety anyway” will approach the exam in two very different mental spaces. Speech and language has an effect on our mental state and I believe that as much as we should talk about issues, we should not band terms like depressed or anxious about when they are in fact, in moderation, they are very normal emotions to experience.

The day I have to hear about everyone's deteriorating mental health 24/7, is the day we talk too much about mental health. The day we have breaking news about mental health, like the breaking news in the toxic 24/7 news cycle, is the day we are talking too much about mental health. Today is not that day. THIS DAY WE TALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we don’t spend ENOUGH time talking about mental health. Mental Health is just as important as physical health, we all struggle we all need support mentally.

The stigma of mental health in the black community means it is not talked about nearly enough.

• Mental health often has negative connotations when it comes to the black community. Because of such mental health is not discussed or acknowledged as much as it should be. These negative associations can prevent people from seeking help, which in the long run can lead to many harmful consequences and worsening of an individual’s health.
• Popular TV show Empire articulates such stigmas with the character Andre, who suffers from bipolar. Some remarks the show picked up was that mental health was ‘white people issues’. His mental health issues were often pushed aside and hidden because of the negative stigma that came with it. Although opinions vary on whether the show portrayed mental health in a realistic light, showing the most extreme scenarios of someone with bipolar. I think the show very subtly, but effectively portrayed the stigma of mental health in the black community. How this is not spoken about enough.