MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH OF MAY, 2021

Mental health never takes a day off, but it gets a month out of the year for more awareness.

Except mental health is a harder reach.

Talk to someone about it and it goes good until you hear more about their problems.

Then what? It’s good to have a plan.

Mental Health America dedicates a page to “Take A Mental Health Test.”

It comes with a fair disclosure:

Please note: Online screening tools are not diagnostic instruments. You are encouraged to share your results with a physician or healthcare provider. Mental Health America Inc., sponsors, partners, and advertisers disclaim any liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, from the use and application of these screens.

Why is this fair? Take the anxiety screen for example. The questions included all sound normal to me after the 2020 covid year. Who isn’t a little anxious. Or a lot?

However, I’m the stable one around my house, though there is disagreement after my airline boarding pass mysteriously disappeared when I needed it most.

Good mental health takes responsibility, even when it’s unlikely your responsibility. It’s like apologizing when something isn’t your fault. If the other person thinks you’re the problem, apologize and make an effort to do better.

Poor mental health blames, lashes out, and seeks solutions to problems they create. At least that’s my take after a few years of marriage, parenting, career, and dog ownership.

Anxiety Test Results

Yes, I took the test I linked to, the anxiety test, because anxiety is running rampant in places.

Your results indicate that you have none or very few symptoms of anxiety.

If you notice that your symptoms aren’t improving or get worse, you may want to bring them up with someone you trust or rescreen.

This screen is not meant to be a diagnosis, or the elimination of a diagnosis.  A trained medical professional can diagnose anxiety.

If you feel like your feelings, thoughts, or behaviors get worse, screen again.

While the results aren’t intended as a mental health flex, I like the results. Did I answer honestly? Or, did I take the path of least resistance because I’m a big strong man who denies everything that frightens me.

The truth lies somewhere between both, which is why it’s okay to screen again and repeat the test.

If you decide to take a few of the tests, and why not, use the results to help someone you care about. You may show none, or few, of the common symptoms associated with needing help, but you know someone.

Here’s the secret: We all know someone.

Be A Good Listener For Mental Health

If someone confides in you, just listen. Let them do the talking. When they stop to take a b breath, avoid jumping in and solving all the problems with cliches and half-baked bullshit.

Two older men shared their end of life plans. The first one said his plan included his friends Smith and Wesson. It was a red flag that he would take his own life. But he said it in such a normal way, like “Why not?”

The second man said he’d saddle up Old Paint and ride into the sunset, or up in the hills around his remote home, set his pony free and let nature take its course.

The first man was my father in law. He died from Parkinson’s Disease complications.

My dad was the second man. He died from a series of micro-strokes associated with diabetes.

I listened to each of their plans without judgement. No gun suicide happened. No one discovered a body in the woods. The old veterans pulled their last duty without event.

Are there better ways to go? Worse ways? The mental health challenge is facing the fact that we’re all going one way or the other.

To smooth the transition for survivors, regardless of what’s happening, keep them in mind. They are the partners and kids and relatives and friends of a lifetime. And they care. You may not know it, I may not, but in my heart I do.

No one lives a good life only to find it filled with scalawags and cheaters and opportunists. People care about us whether we know it or not.

If you don’t know, think of people you care about. It’s unlikely the feeling isn’t mutual.