Mental Health Issue

One social and also political issue that needs to be addressed is mental health. For many people, they suffer from mental illnesses and disorders that occur at a very young age and if not treated carefully that person can end up attempting suicide. For many individuals who think mental illness is not a real thing then they need to be educated to know that mental health is a serious issue and they shouldn’t be treated differently. The individuals who have some type of disorder are human beings and want help, but sometimes they don’t know how to ask. Mental illness isn’t something that should be made fun of. People are not claiming they have a mental illness because it’s fun. We need to address that people with mental health shouldn’t be treated like animals. Society has tried to make people with mental illness seem like they are just saying they have an illness for attention. Many people suffer and sometimes people die because they feel like it’s the only way to feel better. With that said the government wants to eliminate any financial help for people with mental disorders which is incredibly ridiculous. Many children and adults should be able to go and get help and not be drowning in debt just to pay off their bill.

This artist tries to picture what it feels like to have certain disorders. Shawn Coss uses his Facebook page to post his artwork to spread awareness about mental health issues. Some of the artwork may be disturbing but that is why he drew them to show people who don’t understand how it feels like to have a disorder. Here are just some of the few artworks he’s done:

These drawings give light to the people who don’t have disorders and makes it easier for them to know how it feels like to suffer through this 24/7. These drawings are disturbing, but then again, people who have disorders have contacted Shawn and said that these pictures are an accurate representation of how they feel everyday living with an illness that can’t and won’t go away. They appreciate that there is someone who is able to capture the pain they go through and this will also help others understand what many people go through.

People who do not have mental illnesses are lucky but the big issue is, with many younger individuals, there seems to be a lot of people who make fun of others because of the illness. These are challenges that a person has to go through, especially in high school, sadly enough it escalates to the point where the individual attempts suicide. It’s more than likely that the person will try once or twice and most of the times they succeed. For the people who know someone with mental issues educate yourself to try and help or try and get the person to seek help. Have them contact the suicide prevention hotline if they feel like there is no way out.

Another artist that put his artwork about mental disorder online is named Keith Negley. Keith posted an artwork on Tumblr which is:

This piece is about schizophrenia and how this disorder is based on hallucinations and voices in your head. For the people that suffer from this illness, it is hard to determine reality and fantasy. People with this mental issue can be very dangerous because some might have a brain deformity that causes the person to show more anger and have bad decision making. Without the right treatment for people, it can get worse resort to violence because they do not know how to control themselves. This is why people have to understand why people shouldn’t mess around with people that have a mental disorder because who knows how they will react. The government thinks it’s not a big issue because people are just crazy. Actually, they are wrong, people who seem “crazy” could possibly have a mental illness. This is a problem, mainly because the government isn’t taking it seriously and it’s a situation for the people who are affected as well because it’s hard to cope with that. No one should ever go through that pain and suffering. This is why we spread awareness. This is why there are people like Logic, a rapper that has a mental illness, that have a platform to talk about the situation at hand and also sing about it. His song 1-800-273-8244 also known as the suicide prevention hotline is all over the radio with English and Spanish lyrics.

I feel like political activism explains the detail at hand, as for artists and their artwork, they show you how people feel and show you what people go through and they try to get other people’s attention so they can spread awareness as well. Politics don’t show politicians how people feel, they don’t care how people feel. Artists want to fill that space in activism to show everyone all over the world how it is to suffer from mental illness.