Mental Health: Saying Goodbye to Stigmaಮಾದರಿ

"Saying Goodbye to Stigma": As Christians, we believe it's time to open up a healthy conversation around Mental Health. Often, as believers, the idea of struggling with, talking about, or even acknowledging issues related to our mental well-being can be disregarded. Charmain, from our CBN UK Team, has written a devotional testimony to help you engage with questions surrounding faith and mental health. We pray that this will be a tool to encourage you in your journey or help resource you as you walk alongside someone you know who is facing the same struggles. \------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day One - My Story: Part 1 Psalm 23:4 - Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Mental health. What a subject to explore, especially as a follower of Jesus. If you or someone you know and love has ever struggled with their mental health, please keep reading. More than that, please finish this devotional. I hope that, by the end of it, you will have discovered that mental health - and more specifically, mental illness - are not things to be ashamed of, nor are they something to keep hidden in the shadows. Firstly, I'd like to introduce myself—hi, I’m Charmain—and share a little bit about my journey. I hope that this will add credit to my thoughts and writings and let you know that you are not alone. So, my first experience with mental health - and illness. My first brush with mental illness developed when I was 19 years old. My maternal grandmother passed away, and it hit me hard. She had helped to raise me as my mother battled her own struggle with mental illness, and she had a huge impact on my young life. The loss of my grandmother was more than I could bear, and amid the first year of my degree studies, I began to crumble. I was finding it hard to get out of bed, to motivate myself to get to rehearsals and classes, and to generally take care of myself and my pursuit of further education. After much deliberation and tears, I decided to visit the doctors to see if they could help. From memory, they had me fill in a questionnaire, whichI assume was designed to gauge where I was emotionally and mentally in life at that point in time. I answered as honestly as I could bear to, and lo and behold, by the time my questionnaire had been reviewed, I had been diagnosed with depression. I was given a course of medication and advised to take it daily for the foreseeable future. This is part one of my story; come back tomorrow for part two, where I will unpack how my diagnosis of depression took an unexpected turn.