That description of restlessness is familiar to me. That’s how I feel when I’m not engaged in learning something. That’s why I remain curious about the things I care about and why I share so much here and elsewhere online. It’s a motivation for me to continue learning, and that, in turn, helps my mental health.
It’s self-care for me.
In the mental health field, I would agree with the experts quoted in the article. We treat mental health and trauma recovery based on the symptoms shown most often by women, because it is most often women who are seeking help. We define the symptoms based on what we see in those women, which are not the symptoms that every woman would have, let alone others. Someone who is abusing a substance, dealing with anger, taking risks, etc., isn’t typically what we consider “depressed,” but that might be the reality.
You don’t need to do anything to deserve getting help. You don’t need anyone else to permit you to act in ways that benefit your mental health. You not only deserve it, you need it. No one can take that away, including your past traumas
We’ve done a lot of work to eliminate stigma over the years. It’s nearly impossible to argue that there is a significant number of people in the US who don’t know about mental health, or understand that it’s not uncommon. And yet, we still have a stigma problem:
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This reluctance to get help kills people. The societal norm that says it’s weak for men to seek professional help, that we should be strong and stoic in the face of every situation, kills men.
