Every Day Is Mental Health Awareness Day
I recently re-watched Twilight and am in the middle of re-watching New Moon. It was slow-going because we were watching during lunch at work, but only during certain days. (And then we seem to have forgetten to finish it.)
My favorite part of New Moon is still the scene in which Bella is staring out the window as the months go by. I thought it was the perfect visual depiction of the blank pages in the book.
The thing is, one of the most common criticisms I hear about The Twilight Saga series is that Bella goes catatonic when Edward leaves her.
But, the reality is some people DO get depressed after a major break-up.
And some people get depressed with no known trigger at all. Though after ten months of living in official pandemic (one could say it’s been a year since we have first heard about Sars-Cov-2 in Wuhan, China), after our schools in the United States were first shut down ten months ago, I like to remind our school-aged and teen patients that the pandemic restrictions alone have been tough on all of us.
I was SO excited to come across these articles at the L.A. Times—the most important one of which is a beginner’s guide to mental health. The other six articles talk about how to find a therapist who is right for you, how technology is making therapy more accessible, a focus on the elderly, a focus on grief, and a focus on LGBTQ youth. Yes, yes, and yes. Let us normalize talking about mental health and let us spread mental health resources far and wide.
You’ll find me blogging and posting about it often because I can’t say it enough: YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
Please reach out to your medical provider, a friend, a trusted adult for resources.
Side note: I’m also happy to highlight the fact that the OC Health Care agency site for covid-19 also has a resource page for caregivers on how to support our children during the pandemic. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) also has some excellent resources through HeallthyChildren.org. I also talk about other resources here and here.
