The Forum

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, an annual observance founded by Mental Health America in 1949 to highlight mental wellbeing. When feelings and emotions that I refer to as the Big D. & A. (depression and anxiety), affect you or someone close to you, reaching out can help. 

When you find yourself asking notable questions like: Why am I feeling so down all the time? Why am I stressing over everything? What are these feelings that come over me and control my life? Why do they fall upon me so strongly that I often lose control? Or other countless unanswered questions emerge from within. But the best question to ask is this one: How can I conquer, control and get help with this towering inferno of depression and anxiety?   

Psychologists, psychiatrics, doctors, nurses, therapists, counselors, ministers, parents, family, friends, and sometimes strangers seek to help those that are buried, overwhelmed and consumed by the Big D & A. The National Center for Health Statistics 2024 report & study reports “The percentages of adults with mild, moderate, or severe symptoms of both anxiety and depression were highest among adults ages 18–29 and decreased with age and were higher among women than men.”      

Depression and anxiety are emotions that can be just normal reactions to life encounters that hit all of us at one time or another. They are brought on by the highs and lows of life e.g., grief, illness, relationship and family problems, and traumatic experiences, to name a few.  If those feelings or moods are prolonged, overwhelming or crushing, they can create a pathway to drug addiction, mental illness, isolation, self-injury or suicidal thoughts and attempts.  

Ask yourself this question: Are you reaching out (for help)? Do you have difficulty knowing where to start, who to go to, and why it is so important to seek help and support. Do you know someone who seems to be on the verge of self-injury or suicide?  In my nursing career I have encountered many patients consumed by feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, anger and sorrow, and every other life-crushing emotion imaginable.  

Sometimes the depression and anxiety were so serious that these patients required the presence of patient-safety assistants to monitor and keep a watchful eye on them.  Outside the hospital environment many people are “left alone” in their misery. I urge you to become your own self-safety assistant by reaching out.  

On a personal note, I have two family members and two friends who ended their lives by suicide.  They were all seriously affected and overwhelmed by the big D. & A. coupled with drug addictions.   My hope is that if you’re feeling any of these emotions, going through serious self-injury lifestyles, or having suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the resources below, or to any one of the countless help organizations available.   

 And, if you’ve ever had the thoughts that you can’t be helped or that no one cares about you, please believe this. I’m reaching out with words of kindness and support because I care a great deal.  My hope and prayers are that you will Reach Out for help or share this with someone you know is struggling. As the Nike slogan says: Just do It! Reach out, make the calls and get on the road to a healthier, happier, and rewarding life. Turn the big D. & A that engulfs you into a little d. & a.  You’re worth it and you deserve it.  Please Reach out to any of the helping organizations below.  

• NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE (call 988) (for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing) https://988lifeline.org/deaf-hard-of-hearing-hearing-loss/ 

• NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE (call 988)  https://988lifeline.org   

• SARC (STUDENT ADVOCACY AND RESOURCE CENTER) Florissant Valley 

314-513-4226 fvsarc@stlcc.edu Location: SC-257
8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday, Thursday
8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday
9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Friday 

References: 

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5). 5th ed. Arlington, VA. 2013. 

cdc.gov  

Cregg, D.R., Cheavens, J.S. 2022. Healing through helping: an experimental investigation of kindness, social activities, and reappraisal as well-being interventions. The Journal of Positive Psychology. 

Kumar, A. 2022. Kindness Can Have Unexpectedly Positive Consequences. Scientific American. 

National Center for Health Statistics. National Health Interview Survey, 2022 survey description. 2023. Available from:  

https://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/ 

NHIS/2022/srvydesc-508.pdf .