Mental Health Awareness Month

It has never meant that you can quickly gain psychological knowledge and completely solve all emotional problems during this period. The core value is to bring the matter of "paying attention to your mental state" from a distant medical term and Internet hot word to your daily life. It is definitely not a useless flowery.

When I was a resident consultant in a university a few years ago, I came across a promotional month event that made a particularly deep impression on me. Instead of giving a long lecture, we put up a 3-meter-long graffiti wall at the entrance of the cafeteria, marked with the four words "Emotional Tree Hole." College students who thought they were afraid of society were too embarrassed to write it, but on the third day, the entire wall was covered in graffiti. One freshman kid drew a crying face with droopy eyes, and underneath it was written, "It turns out I'm not the only one who thinks I can't understand high school math but I dare not tell my parents yet." This was followed by more than 20 "Me too" messages with the same message. Finally, a senior student added, "I almost failed the exam back then, but now I'm studying for a Ph.D., so take my time." You said that this kind of small resonance is much more useful than our three-hour lecture on "how to deal with academic pressure."

Interestingly, the industry has actually been arguing for many years about how to conduct the promotion month, and there is no unified answer at all. Most scholars engaged in public health believe that the core function of the publicity month is general screening, putting simple scales for self-assessment of anxiety and depression screening at the front desks of communities, businesses, and schools to facilitate early detection and early intervention. Last year, several streets in Shenzhen did this. In half a month, more than 30 office workers who were not aware that they had anxiety disorders were screened out, and they were subsequently connected to public welfare consultations, which indeed helped many people. However, many front-line clinical consulting colleagues do not agree with this idea, saying that indiscriminate universal screening is too easy to label people randomly. Not long ago, an Internet company directly synchronized the psychological screening results of employees to HR. A girl was labeled as having a "moderate depressive tendency" and was almost dismissed by the company on the grounds that she was "not in good condition." This only added a layer of pressure.

To be honest, there are quite a few people who think that the promotion month is just a show. I heard a boy complain when he passed by the event booth before, saying, "How can anyone who is really depressed come to join in this kind of fun?" This is actually true. Most of the previous events were about grand scenes, setting up a big inflatable bear, and playing games with passers-by. People who were afraid of society or those who were in a low mood had no time to hide, so how could they dare to join in. Therefore, activities in many places are also changing now. This year, several office buildings in Hangzhou have set up "silent consultation points" during the promotion month. They are located in a small corner next to the fire escape. They set up a folding table and hang a sign saying "No need to say hello, just sit down." The consultants will not take the initiative to talk. If you want to chat, just sit down and the 15 minutes are free. There is no need to register your name or fill out any forms. A friend of mine who works in operations just happened to catch up last month. She was scolded by a customer for an entire hour that day. She was squatting in the stairwell and crying when she saw the sign. She sat down when she saw the sign. The consultant did not advise her to "be more open-minded" and handed her a cup of hot lemon tea. She listened to her scolding the customer for ten minutes and finally told her, "You have done a good job." She told me that it was more useful than being bored at home for three days.

Oh, by the way, there is another pitfall that many people easily fall into, which is labeling themselves "depressed" whenever they feel bad. I had a case before, a girl who had just graduated. She worked overtime for a month and cried every day. When she came, she asked me if I was too fragile. I handed her a popular science leaflet for the promotion month, which said, "If you feel depressed for more than two consecutive weeks, give priority to hormonal and sleep problems, and then consider psychological counseling." She later went to the hospital to check and found out that it was hypothyroidism. After taking medicine for two weeks, her mood stabilized. You see, many times the most useful thing about popular science is to help you avoid unnecessary detours.

In fact, this event is very similar to the early days of Teeth Love Day. At first, everyone thought it was just a formality. They distributed toothbrushes and leaflets everywhere, but no one took them seriously. Now, haven't they gradually developed the habit of cleaning their teeth every year and changing their toothbrushes every three months? The same is true for Mental Health Awareness Month. You may think it is useless now. In a few years, when people are in bad mood, their first reaction will not be to scold themselves for being "pretentious" or "fragile", but to think, "How about talking to a counselor," or "How about taking a break and doing nothing for two days," and that's it.

If you happen to come across a promotion month stall downstairs, in your company, or in a shopping mall recently, don’t go around, even go over and get a small keychain with the words “Allow yourself to be unhappy” printed on it? It’s never too troublesome or too late to take care of yourself.