Mental health issues are never simple, and because of their complexity people often misunderstand those who are affected by whatever condition they are struggling with.
People have become so used to medicating themselves that we seldom get to the bottom of what has caused the problem, nor ever get it fixed - so we keep medicating. Whether the medication takes the form of a prescription, illegal drugs, or alcohol - whatever way you look at it, there is some crutch that exists to deal with what is going on in the mind until we fix the issues.
The Sadness Inside
I truly believe that those people who are suffering from mental illnesses display it outwardly in one way or another.
Maybe they are overweight, underweight, body odour, maybe they laugh and join in when people mock them. What about those who have a sense of humour about things purely so that they don't cry (publicly)?
Or the lack of ability to connect with people? When you have been physically or emotionally hurt so many times you begin to distance yourself from everyone and everything - you don't want that pain again. Your circle of friends gets smaller and you end up not socializing and being quite happy to exist in your own bubble - alone.
Food. Let's talk about food. Food fills that sadness for a short time. Comfort Food, unfortunately it doesn't comfort you when people point and laugh when you're morbidly obese, nor when they throw a sandwich at you and scream at you to eat it. Imagine if you told a drug addict they must have a hit of the very drug they are addicted to every day, and that they must just "control" their desires. Food is an addiction, and so is control over what goes in your mouth. Could you really tell an alcohol dependent alcoholic to just have 1 glass of wine?
PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. What does it mean to me? It means that I battle to be around people in social situations because that is where all the pain and badness in my life has come from. It means that I'm generally a loner, despite giving off the air of confidence in my professional life - I still hide it. I still hate it. There's nothing I can do about it. Look deeper into the lives of army crews, medical crews, people who have had horrendous issues happen to them; rape, watching a loved one being murdered, losing a child. They display an existence to the world because of the pain inside them - consciously or unconsciously. It's there.
Why am I writing this?
To raise awareness, I guess? There are so many people who judge others and call them "messy", "lazy", "fat", "skeletal", "crazy" (insert hundreds more here), and frown on them for their life and perceived choices. People need to take a step back and keep their judgements to themselves.
You don't know what that person is going through.
You don't know what that person has been through.
Focus on yourself, judge yourself - leave the person to judge themselves. Do you think they don't? Do you think they're happy with how they are living / existing?
Call in help if they need it.
Get someone there to intervene if you truly believe someone's life, animals or others are in danger. If you perceive it as danger, it doesn't matter the consequences of being wrong. At least you acted. Imagine if you said / did nothing and they continued with their life until they ended up hurting themselves or others?
Powerless
They know there is a problem, but at a point, they become powerless to correct it on their own.
You have to know the cause (personal opinion)
If you don't know the cause, you will never find a solution, that's the way my logic works. I don't have a solution to the problem, most of the time I struggle to fix my own problems (I'm still struggling but I believe I'm getting there).
What I do have is a hugely sympathetic understanding of some of what people go through - because I've been there myself.
I ask that everyone will go and read up more on mental health issues, before you judge someone for the life they are leading.
Where does my title come from?
An outward display of an inward existence is something that I feel truly sums up some parts of mental health disorders. Whether it's hoarding, an eating disorder, depression. Some mental health issues are able to be hidden - extremely well.
However, there are always signs. There is always something, even if so subtle that it is missed. A tear in the eye, a smile through pain, a shake of a head. A body that is so unfit / unhealthy, or even self-harm.
I fully believe that mental health issues manifest physically.
Be kind - Judge less. You might save some's life.
Lead Image is the same as this ^^ embedded image from Pixabay User: johnhain
