it's Time To Start Practicing Mental Hygiene

Blast off to a healthier headspace by openening up about mental health.

Everyone loves an inspiring internet story, and when that said internet story involves pro-verbially sticking it to The Man, we, as a collective audience, are possibly even more inclined to Like, Share, Fave, or whathaveyou than we are when kittens or puppies are involved. This may in some way explain why, in June 2017, American tech employee Madalyn Parker’s tweet about taking mental health days— and her CEO’s subsequent support of her decision to openly discuss and work on her mental wellness—not only went viral, but also sparked much-needed discourse about why we aren’t paying attention to and, worse, stigmatizing mental health.

People from all across the globe piped in to share their own experiences regarding caring for their mental health in the workplace. Stories ran the gamut from heartwarming to despicable, but a pattern of being the recipients of passive aggression, condescension, and even denial that mental disorders could be considered actual illnesses soon emerged. What sufferers of mental and psychological disorders have long known soon came to light: People don’t just misunderstand mental illness and mental health, they’re also disdainful of it.

Despite nearly one in five Filipinos suffering from some sort of psychological disorder—whether depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, paranoia, or any of the hundreds of other disorders currently identified by what is considered the bible of psychiatry, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—it’s still pretty common for people with legitimate illnesses to hear such dismissive statements as “You’re just sad,” “You’re making a big deal out of nothing,” or even “Gawa-gawa lang ‘yan.”