Education is knowledge, and knowledge is power. Educating yourself on things surrounding you on a daily basis is something very important. That way, you are more aware of what is affecting you and how. In a sense, education is a form of self-care. Much like anything else, educating yourself on mental health issues is, simply, another form of self-care.
The Stigma
Because of the stigma surrounding mental health and mental health disorders, it is important to reach out and research for yourself because of the fact that you do not tend to receive this type of education normally. Growing up, we are regularly exposed to learning how to take care of ourselves if we get the flu or if we injure ourselves playing with our neighbors. In later stages in life, you may take classes on how to perform first-aid or how to protect yourself should you be in a robbery. What about learning about mental health disorders? What about learning about mental health and its significance?
Why is it important?
The fact of the matter is that mental health affects all of us, with no exceptions in regard to race, gender, ethnicity, or age. Whether things affect our mental health positively or negatively is a different story. In that sense, it becomes important for you to learn about mental health and its subtopics in order to better understand why and how things affect you the way that they do. You must be able to understand why something makes you happy and why another thing makes you sad. That way, you are also able to learn methods that would help bring you out of a dark place should you be in one.
What can I do?
Simply, educate yourself. Read. Ask around. Talk to people. Talk to your friends, your teachers, your doctors, professionals, and anyone you can think of. If you are experiencing some symptoms that you feel are out-of-the-ordinary, talk to someone about them. Read about the issue and understand its causes and possible treatments. Reach out for help. A huge issue that we face these days because of the lack of education surrounding mental health is that many disorders and issues go unnoticed and untreated a lot of the time. The same way you learn about the flu in order to learn how to properly take care of yourself should you have it, learn about mental health issues in order to learn how to deal with them accordingly.