“It’s Important to Remember There is Light at the End of the Tunnel”
In our previous issue, we shared that D Jay McGrath is going to be speaking with us on the topic of mental health.
D Jay has been sharing his struggle with mental health and addiction with those across the country, speaking at schools, spending time with local kids playing hockey, and connecting with others via social media. D Jay tackles all of this with a judgement free attitude. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) defines mental illness as “a condition that deeply affects a person’s thinking, feeling, behavior or mood” in their day-to-day living. According to the organization, 1 in 5 adults experienced some form of mental illness in 2020.
For many struggling, it often feels like things will not get better. “I honestly did not think I could get out of it. I did not want anyone to know what was going on especially my parents because I did not want to let them down after all they have done for me. I was stuck, I did not know how to get out of it,” explained D Jay.
However, it is important to know that things will get better. “I thought I was going to be like this for the rest of my life, Until one night, there was this feeling, a sense of hope that I have never felt before in my life, I felt like I could finally tell my parents everything. It’s a feeling I still don’t know how to explain. It was a sense of hope—finally, light at the end of the tunnel. The day I told my parents everything, I knew I was battling with myself, I had voices in my head telling me the absolute worst, but I laid everything out on the table and it saved my life.”
Talking about our problems and verbalizing our negative feelings to friends has been a source of relief for centuries. Studies have shown that simply talking about our problems and sharing our negative emotions with someone we trust can be profoundly healing—reducing stress, strengthening our immune system, and reducing physical and emotional distress. Revealing why verbalizing helps heal our emotional pain, neuroscience studies by Lieberman et. al. (2007) and Vago and Silbersweig (2012) have found that labeling our feelings reduces activation in the amygdala, our brain’s alarm system that triggers the fight-or-flight reaction. When we give words to our emotions, we move away from limbic reactivity by activating those parts of the brain that deal with language and meaning in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Lieberman et al, 2007). We become less reactive and more mindfully aware.
In addition to this, opening up about your mental illness will gives others a chance to help you through the difficult times. You can talk about your problems with a trusted family member, friend, mentor, or therapist. It’s also important to find a method of communication that feels right for you. This might be a face-to-face conversation, or you might find it easier to talk on the phone or write down how you feel in a letter. Short phrases such as “I’ve not been feeling like myself lately” or “I’m finding it hard to cope at the moment” might provide a starting point. “One important thing I want people to remember that talking is the best medicine. All it can take is that one conversation,” shared D Jay.
If you are in the Kindersley or surrounding area and would like to speak with someone at the West Central Crisis & Family Support Center Inc., please call 1 306-463-6655 or the after-hours line at 1 306-463-1860. You may also stop in to their center, which is located at 116 1 Ave W in Kindersley. If you prefer, you can call the Saskatchewan Healthline at 811.
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