older generation's distrust in mental health
One observation I had in today's society is the older generation's lack of awareness and carefree attitude when it comes to approaching mental health. Frankly, I think third world countries have cultures that shape this sort of mindset, especially when money is on the line to consult to a professional. Personally, I have seen this a lot in my family on several occasions.
I'd say I have an extensive amount of experience with mental health, and that my life revolved a lot around it. I frequently looked it up a lot on the internet and read articles about it. I gave people advice and seen many people in need of mental help both physically and digitally. I even thought of potential studies that could be done concerning psychology. With those things in mind, I think that mental health is a big part of anyone's life, with many not even realizing it.
And so, one occurrence of the mentioned distrust was when I was picking a potential career path. At a big portion of that time, I wanted to pursue psychology and go to med school to become a psychiatrist. The elders looked at this news with disbelief and immediately attempted to sway me out of it. I was constantly being yelled at at the mere mention of the field. My family despised it. Because of that, I got immediately pulled away from it to focus on engineering despite psychology being at the top of my interests.
Besides that, I also had another time with my parents where I confronted them about me not being mentally well. I had some odd behaviors that my teacher talked to me about and recommended me to talk to a psychiatrist about it. Knowing how my parents would respond, I held back on that idea.
But maybe they could understand, I thought. Thinking that way, I eventually talked to them, and they questioned me a lot.
"I don't think you need to see one. I don't see anything wrong with you."
- Well, I don't know, really, and I kinda want to know what I am doing mentally, so I thought this would be good for a formal diagnosis.
"Do I really need the consultation? Or is it something that could be solved at home?"
- No thanks, I'd rather have a professional to talk to, to be honest.
"Y'know back in the day, we never had to think about those. There is something deeply wrong with your generation. [proceeds to talk about way back then when mental health was "no big deal" for them]"
- Glad it worked out for you, but times have changed, and I'm not you.
etc. etc.
And so, with a conversation that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, I never got to get that formal diagnosis I wanted, and I have to resort to online tests with high scores that only leaves me with more questions than answers, as well as unnecessary inner doubt.
On the bright side, I appreciate the majority's efforts in shedding more light on the matter. I think that this is a topic that should be looked more on, hence my great interest in it. Hopefully in the future, more awareness is spread out there and more people could get the help they need. For now, I'll just stay curious and find some ways to get there myself.
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