By Kevin Hillier
Does mental illness still have a social stigma? I would say it does, especially with the male of the species, many of whom still believe it is soft and unmanly to ask for help.
Beyondblue ambassador Brad McEwan spoke at the President’s Lunch at Werribee Football Club last week and his personal story – as well as his observations – brought home the importance of seeing past the superficial facade many people put up.
There are many organisations in place to offer support and we have probably never had more avenues to access help. Yet we still have an escalating problem in society.
Tom Boyd, the Bulldogs premiership player, spoke of his struggles on the Bulldogs podcast Freedom In a Cage. Tom spoke of his lack of coping skills because everything came easily and readily to him until he hit adulthood. He was good at sport, good at school, had a great home and social life and really wanted for nothing.
That is the exact life we are trying to provide for our children. It obviously isn’t all it appears to be. As parents we try to tread that fine line between cotton wooling too much and allowing freedom to try and fail. You learn more from your mistakes than successes, but what parent wants their child to constantly fail? The pain associated with failure is often too much for us as parents to bear, but we have to, as the Boyd story illustrates. No amount of money, fame or success helps. Rich people get cancer and suffer from mental health issues too. We all want to be happy and healthy.
Brad made the point that we go to the doctor if our arms or legs don’t feel right or are broken. The same should apply when the rest of us doesn’t feel right. The suck-it-up, harden-up, get-over-yourself cure-all of the past is no longer acceptable. We need to admit there is a problem. Then we need to address the problems and deal with them accordingly and appropriately.
Life is different from 20 years ago and dealing with it has changed as well. It is time we all embraced that.
