Having a chat about it to my boyfriend made me realise how much people have used the word "depression" synonymously with being extremely sad or upset. And yes, for those people who are just feeling very strong emotions of being sad and low, just thinking of something happy and cheering yourself up will work. But for those who are actually suffering from depression, it involves so much more than just 'cheering yourself up'. People also say that they're 'bipolar' when they feel emotions of happy and sad at the same time or in close proximity to each other. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't use those words (mainly because I think everything's becoming too politically correct these days), but I think everyone should know the difference when describing actual mental health issues as opposed to feeling strong emotions and that this distinction is so important because when people say they have depression, I see people roll their eyes and just start expecting this person to just want attention as opposed to wanting to help them.
I find this is way more prevalent when the person is a teenager. All of a sudden, you get the whole, "Oh they're just being an attention seeking teenager". Even if they were, self harming or suicidal ideations or thoughts are still something to be worried about. They still will need someone to talk to, someone they can trust, and someone who won't just think that they're doing it for attention. Because you don't want to be the one who could have helped that person, only to brush them off thinking they were just being a typical teenager.
And this happened to me the other day. I was looking after a 16 year old patient who had come in for different reasons but had a history of overdosing on paracetamol and self harming. Now, on an acute medical ward, it is VERY hard to find time to sit down and scratch your head let alone sit down with a patient and talk to them. But on this particular day, I just happened to be free and I managed to sit down and have a chat with my patient and we ended up talking for about an hour. During this time I was thanking the Gods above that I had worked on an adolescent mental health ward and they had taught me a few good skills! What to ask, what not to ask, what to suggest, etc. I could feel that with every minute this patient felt more and more comfortable and the information just flowed out! The amount I got from just that one hour was incredible and it made me see my patient a little clearer. They were basically a really good kid in a really f***ed up situation and they didn't know how to deal or who to turn to.
But one of the biggest things that stuck out in my mind during this conversation was that they felt they were already diagnosed with another overdose or self harm situation before they even reached the ward. In Emergency, due to this patients' history, they asked if this patient had overdosed on something. Not, "What medications are you on?", but "What medication did you take?". And yes, I know this is hearsay, but this is what the patient felt. And then being admitted onto the ward, the patient still felt that some of the doctors and nurses assumed that the patient was lying about taking any medications and was just hiding the truth so that they could get more attention. On top of that, we got the patient a psych review, and because the psych team usually deal with adults who already have established mental health issues and are probably more pressing to them, they were just happy the patient didn't want to (and also didn't) kill themselves! So they pretty much did nothing.
I feel this is one of the biggest problems facing mental health these days. People are so focused on the adults that already have mental health issues and forget that they had to come from somewhere. And at 16 years old, this is the best time to start preventing and dealing with it before this patient goes down a long road of self harming and suicide attempts and multiple admissions into hospital only to bounce back because they didn't get the right treatment at the very beginning. Isn't that what people say to deal with diseases? Prevention is better than treatment. So why is it different for mental health?
There is still such a stigma associated with mental health and this stigma, I feel, is much worse when the patient is a teenager. This is really the time when you should be teaching your kids how to deal with things, teach them coping strategies and support them along the way. Show them where they can turn to and not feel upset if they don't turn to you, just show them that you care enough that they are actively seeking help. I'm sure everyone has experienced the emotional turmoil that is adolescence, and yes, majority of teenagers don't have mental health issues, but there are those that do. And I know, for myself, I don't want to be the one who could have prevented that one teenager from going down the long road that is mental health, but turned my back on them because they were just being a "typical teenager". But hey, that's just me.
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