We Are Now Processing
Do you feel like recently you've been having more open and honest conversations about your mental health? Or have you been seeing an uptick in online content that openly discusses mental health? Well, guess what friends? We are now processing.
If you're a millennial like me, you most likely have parents (boomers) who are used to stuffing their feelings away. They were taught to be tough, suck it up, and never given the proper tools with which to process their emotional experiences and traumas (there is a distinction). Though this was previously the norm, it's problematic because our emotional experiences and unprocessed traumas are stored in the cellular memory [1]. While you may have forgotten details about a traumatic experience, as Dr. Bessel van der Kolk highlights, your body always remembers [2].
Mental Health Is Becoming A Mainstream Topic
Times have evolved and we are beginning to experience a world that is more open and accepting of mental health issues. Mental health has gone from being a taboo topic to being more openly discussed in mainstream conversations, and people are steadily becoming more willing to seek out help. A decade ago, the majority of people were ashamed to discuss their mental health. They felt it was a sign of weakness or that they were demonstrating being unable to cope with life issues on their own.
Statistics show that in 2011, only 13.6% of adults in the US received mental health services in the past year [3]. By 2021, this had increased to 21.6%, indicating that more people are becoming aware of the importance of mental health and actively seeking out the help they need [4]. This trend is likely to continue in the coming years, with an estimated 2 out of 5 adults in the US expected to seek out professional mental healthcare in 2023 [5].
In the last 2 years (I could even correlate it with living in a post-COVID world), countless friends of mine, family members, my current partner, and even I have sought out therapy and psychological help to process our traumas and improve our mental well-being. COVID was a collective trauma that we are still living through. There is no shame in seeking out the help you need and I hope that soon tending to our emotional wounds is as commonplace as tending to our physical wounds.
Seeking Out Mental Help
The increasing acceptance of mental health issues perhaps makes it easier for you to talk about them and seek out the help you need. There are many different ways to do this, including counseling, therapy, support groups, and online resources. It is becoming more normalized to speak openly about our mental health issues, and I believe this is a hugely positive development. When you make the bold move of accepting you need help, it gets you one step closer to receiving the help you need to process your traumas collectively and ultimately lead a healthier life.
My combined passion for movement and recognition of the importance of mental health led me on the path to becoming a dance movement therapist. From 2020 to 2021, I worked with special needs children, then later worked at a psychiatric day hospital from 2022 to 2023, to complete a master’s degree in dance and movement therapy.
To find out more about this journey check out this video! And in the meantime, if you’re thinking about getting mental help, follow your gut and do it.