Bell Let's Talk Day

[Boges]

In recent week the airwaves have been crowded with ads showing people in work environments hearing about another workers struggle with "mental illness" and the fact that they have to take time off off work. The ads interchange negative responses with supportive responses.

So today is Bell Let's Talk Day. I guess to goal is to create awareness and acceptance of mental illness. If you tweet some hashtag or something, Bell will donate a nickel to some cause.

http://letstalk.bell.ca/en/end-the-stigma/

1 LANGUAGE MATTERS

Words can help…but they can also hurt. Pay attention to the words you use.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• Explain to friends and colleagues who use words like “psycho” or “nut” without thinking that their comments may be hurtful and provide an alternative view.

MICHAEL LANDSBERG

DID YOU KNOW?

2 out of 3 people suffer in silence, fearing judgement and rejection.

Canadian Medical Association

2 EDUCATE YOURSELF

Learn the facts and myths about mental illness. Be knowledgeable and help fight stigma with facts.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• Understand early warning signs in yourself and others and know where to seek help

HOWIE MANDEL

DID YOU KNOW?

Approximately 11 people will end their lives by suicide today – and every day – in Canada

Canadian Association for Suicide
Prevention

3 BE KIND

Small acts of kindness speak volumes.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• Don’t stand by if someone is being labelled or bullied.
• Treat a person who has a mental illness with the kindness and care you give to people with other illnesses through a friendly smile, a helping hand, a phone call or visit.

MARY WALSH

DID YOU KNOW?

Only 49% of Canadians said they would socialize with a friend who has a serious mental illness.

Canadian Medical Association

4 LISTEN AND ASK

Sometimes it’s best to just listen.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• Don't trivialize someone's illness. Instead, say: "I’m sorry to hear that, it must be a difficult time. Is there anything I can do to help?"

CLARA HUGHES

DID YOU KNOW?

Once depression is recognized, help can make a difference for 80% of people who are affected, allowing them to get back to their regular activities.

CMHA

5 TALK ABOUT IT

Start a dialogue, not a debate

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• Break the silence. Talk about how mental illness touches us all in some way directly or through a friend, family member or colleague. Stories of lived experience are the best way to help eradicate stigma.
• Support mental health and anti-stigma programs in your community.

Now here's what I want to talk about regarding this mental illness debate. People can't have it both ways. Everyone has dealt with depression. I've dealt with personal issues recently that's made this past year very difficult for me. But that's not mental illness.

All this "awareness" has led us to believe that mental illness, specifically depression, is an involuntary down period in someone's life. They may have everything going for them and yet still be crippled with horrible depression. It's a chemical imbalance of sorts. It's hard for people to sympathize with an otherwise successful person that needs to be coddled about what people say to them because of their "mental illness".

So let's talk about this. Surely the solution isn't only a dialogue. There is medication for depression. If you are irrationally in a state of depression surely a paid leave from work isn't going to fix that problem. I just see that as an avenue to abuse people's kindness. If someone couldn't work because of a physical illness, they onus would be on them to see medical professionals to fix the problem.

Surely the solution to mental illness isn't just to "talk" about it. Talking about something doesn't fix a broken leg, so how does it fix a chemical imbalance in someone's brain?

Just my thoughts on the issue. I'd love to "talk" about it.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Boges

[drummindiver]

Huge difference between being sad and being clinically depressed. Everyone has not dealt with that.

Just as with medical issues, ppl get professional help via drugs and counselling for mental issues.

The Talk About It campaign is to reduce the stigma attached. My mother suffered horrendously from many mental issues, and I heard many disparaging remarks about it throughout my life. "Coddling" her would not have changed anything, but calling her names never helped either.

Just as with cancer, much is still to learn. Dealing with the brain is not always an exact science.

[Big Guy]

I believe that the idea behind the campaign is that if people talk about depression and anxiety then those who are suffering from it may identify what is wrong and seek help (probably drugs).

Depression/Anxiety do weaken the individuals ability to make decisions, to diagnose that he/she has a problem and keep them from seeking help. Sometimes drugs do not help or it takes them a long time to kick in (some take 6 months before becoming effective). Those with major depression/anxiety challenges may know and understand the pain they are experiencing but have to be convinced that they will eventually come out of it. When they feel there is no hope is when they decide to end that pain for themselves.

I believe that hearing others who have suffered through depression/anxiety describing what they went through BUT EVENTUALLY CAME OUT OF IT can give the suffering individual hope and the encouragement to keep trying.

I have been there personally and have lost some good friends to that illness.

BTW It is far, far more prevalent than most people assume.

[Topaz]

I can see ppl being depressed in todays society, with job losses happening since 2008 and I bet everyone on here knows someone that has lost their job. A person DNA can also affect them and I'm not sure if medication can help everyone that is depressed. I do know some of those medication have severe side effects like weight gain and suicide thoughts, so for some their life goes around in circles never really getting control of it.

[Boges]

I can see ppl being depressed in todays society, with job losses happening since 2008 and I bet everyone on here knows someone that has lost their job. A person DNA can also affect them and I'm not sure if medication can help everyone that is depressed. I do know some of those medication have severe side effects like weight gain and suicide thoughts, so for some their life goes around in circles never really getting control of it.

So if medication doesn't help, how can just talking help?

I've been to therapists before, they can only really help if you want help. There's no secret to happiness. Talking through problems can be very helpful if you're open to good advice and life changes. But I sense that's not a solution to clinical depression.

[Big Guy]

Being unhappy or sad is not really depression. Clinical depression is a physical state where the sufferer is in constant pain, is unable to make decisions, every inconvenience becomes becomes a turning point, a tragedy awaits around each corner, fear permeates your existence. There is no happiness, no joy. You yearn for sleep but if you are on medication you never achieve REM sleep.

It is a condition in which a person has great difficulty just living a "normal" existence with nothing to look forward to.

Too many people choose to end that pain themselves.

[Moonlight Graham]

Now here's what I want to talk about regarding this mental illness debate. People can't have it both ways. Everyone has dealt with depression. I've dealt with personal issues recently that's made this past year very difficult for me. But that's not mental illness.

it can be. You can be sick with a cold that goes away and still be ill, it doesn't have to be a long-term or lifetime condition. Mental illness is not just a genetic chemical imbalance. Mental illness is when you are ill mentally, period.

All this "awareness" has led us to believe that mental illness, specifically depression, is an involuntary down period in someone's life.

Mental illness or "down periods" are not just about depression. Illnesses like anxiety are also huge problems.

They may have everything going for them and yet still be crippled with horrible depression. It's a chemical imbalance of sorts. It's hard for people to sympathize with an otherwise successful person that needs to be coddled about what people say to them because of their "mental illness".

So let's talk about this. Surely the solution isn't only a dialogue. There is medication for depression. If you are irrationally in a state of depression surely a paid leave from work isn't going to fix that problem. I just see that as an avenue to abuse people's kindness. If someone couldn't work because of a physical illness, they onus would be on them to see medical professionals to fix the problem.

Surely the solution to mental illness isn't just to "talk" about it. Talking about something doesn't fix a broken leg, so how does it fix a chemical imbalance in someone's brain?

I appreciate you starting this thread. But I just don't think you fully understand what "Let's Talk" is all about. It's not just about talking to solve a problem. It's the fact that mental illness caries a stigma of "personal weakness", where ignorant people may think a person who is suffering from mental illness is "crazy". People with mental illness need to be able to tell their employer or their family and friends they're suffering from mental illness without stigma. It's harder to get medical help or even admit to yourself you have a problem that needs medical attention if the illness is treated as a taboo and should never be disclosed to anyone because they may think you're crazy or weak.

Taking some time off from the stresses of work is often an important treatment of mental illness in itself. A waitress wouldn't be expected to keep working if she broke her leg and couldn't walk. Many physical and mental conditions need time off to heal. But you're right that often the solution isn't "just dialogue or rest".

[Moonlight Graham]

Also, on the one hand Bell is doing a good thing to raise awareness and donate money. On the other hand, it's clearly co-opting mental illness and supporters to advertise itself. The "Bell Let's Talk" campaign is as much about Bell, that shitty corporate that treats its customers like crap to the point it's amazing it's still a profitable company, as it is about mental illness.

Where's the Canadian/provincial governments, and why don't they do something like this?

Wow Bell is giving a whopping 5 cents for every time a person advertises for them on social media. Cheapest advertising campaign ever.

[Boges]

Also, on the one hand Bell is doing a good thing to raise awareness and donate money. On the other hand, it's clearly co-opting mental illness and supporters to advertise itself. The "Bell Let's Talk" campaign is as much about Bell, that shitty corporate that treats its customers like crap to the point it's amazing it's still a profitable company, as it is about mental illness.

Where's the Canadian/provincial governments, and why don't they do something like this?

Wow Bell is giving a whopping 5 cents for every time a person advertises for them on social media. Cheapest advertising campaign ever.

I wonder how many people who recently were laid off by Bell are suffering from crippling depression.

[BubberMiley]

Now here's what I want to talk about regarding this mental illness debate. People can't have it both ways. Everyone has dealt with depression. I've dealt with personal issues recently that's made this past year very difficult for me. But that's not mental illness.

All this "awareness" has led us to believe that mental illness, specifically depression, is an involuntary down period in someone's life. They may have everything going for them and yet still be crippled with horrible depression. It's a chemical imbalance of sorts. It's hard for people to sympathize with an otherwise successful person that needs to be coddled about what people say to them because of their "mental illness".

This is exactly why they started the Let's Talk initiative: to inform people that what you are saying here is completely and totally wrong.

Clue for you: Not everyone has dealt with depression. Everyone has been bummed out at one time or another. That's completely different.

Edited January 27, 2016 by BubberMiley

[Boges]

This is exactly why they started the Let's Talk initiative: to inform people that what you are saying here is completely and totally wrong.

Clue for you: Not everyone has dealt with depression. Everyone has been bummed out at one time or another. That's completely different.

But it also doesn't speak to any concrete solutions. Being sympathetic is the easier part, but that only goes so far if a person won't or can't seek a solution.

[BubberMiley]

But it also doesn't speak to any concrete solutions. Being sympathetic is the easier part, but that only goes so far if a person won't or can't seek a solution.

I think the idea is that by talking about it, they will reduce the stigma and show people who have a tendency to make uninformed judgements that it is not just "successful people wanting to be coddled." In reality, it is an illness (and not just sadness). By doing that, the people who are suffering are more likely to seek treatment rather than try to "suck it up." Edited January 27, 2016 by BubberMiley

[Moonlight Graham]

But it also doesn't speak to any concrete solutions. Being sympathetic is the easier part, but that only goes so far if a person won't or can't seek a solution.

I think the idea is that by talking about it, they will reduce the stigma and show people who have a tendency to make uninformed judgements that it is not just "successful people wanting to be coddled." In reality, it is an illness (and not just sadness). By doing that, the people who are suffering are more likely to seek treatment rather than try to "suck it up."

Exactly. Being able to talk about your mental illness without fear of stigma is part of the solution. Being able to talk to friends, family, and employers about your mental illness without fear will help a person be able to deal with the illness much better and seek help, and have that support system that's very important to have to get better. How hard would it be to suffer from depression if having it makes you feel even more isolated? It's like a viscous spiral.

[cybercoma]

F Bell

[dialamah]

I wonder how many people who recently were laid off by Bell are suffering from crippling depression.

Ran across a blog written by a former Bell contact worker. Crappy company to work for and while they may be willing to listen to someone with mental illness, they sure don't do anything to help them deal with it. But seems that there have been suicides in the family who owns or founded Bell so they want to get the word out, even as the corporation completely misses the point when it comes to their own employees.

Edited January 29, 2016 by dialamah