Help for mental health troubles is available
We need to streamline access to care and embrace the fact that a mental health checkup is as important as a physical checkup.
Sadly, we recently learned that another Capitol police officer involved in the Jan. 6 attack took his life. That makes four. Mental health has vaulted into recent headlines, shining a light on the fact that taking care of your mental health is as important as your physical health. Simone Biles’ message rang clearly. Pressure from within and from without can cause not only mental anguish, but it can also impact you physically. When that happens, it is OK to take a step back and put your own mental well-being first. Biles’ choice to do just that was eye-opening.
For too long anyone not able to mentally “hold it together” has been perceived as weak. The reality is none of us can hold it together all the time and this persistent attitude has kept people from seeking the help they need with sometimes deadly results. In 2019, suicide was the 10th ranked overall cause of death of individuals in the United States. This is especially true for those who protect us — veterans, police officers — who are witnesses of extreme trauma and violence to a much greater degree than the average person.
The hard truth is suicidal ideation can happen to anyone who may be struggling emotionally and mentally to hold it together. Without help, individuals make the decision that ending the struggle is better than continuing. When that happens, we bear some responsibility for not making access to mental health care more easily accessible for everyone, by putting up barriers, instituting complicated processes — and for our attitudes. We need to streamline access to care and embrace the fact that a mental health check-up is as important as a physical check-up.
External pressures today are much more public than ever before thanks to social media. Our connections to human beings and empathy for their feelings have been distanced and diluted by communication via a computer or cell phone. This must be especially true for people in the public eye such as politicians, actors, athletes or high-profile incidents regarding police. It is hard enough to grapple privately with stress and adversity. Being the topic of a global conversation can have daunting and devastating results. Individuals can be overwhelmed for any number of reasons. Thoughts of how they could have done things differently, guilt, feelings of depression, anxiety, inadequacy — even nightmares and the inability to function at work or as part of a family — can become pervasive. That is when seeking and getting help is critically important.
What is our role? Each of us needs to understand and encourage anyone we know, especially a loved one, who may be having a problem to get help. If we are having a hard time mentally, we need to get help. The positive message is that getting help is OK, it is acceptable and it is the right thing to do. It can literally be life-saving.