Stigma

I was talking to my cousin yesterday and we ended up on the topic of depression, as we often do. We both have it and have supported each other through it being far away from home at college many a time. I asked her how she was doing and she told me and then she asked how I was doing and I said I'd been very stressed lately (it is the end of the semester after all) but that I'd just hit my two and a half year mark. She got really excited for me and sort of gushed about how amazing it was for about five minutes. And you know what? It is pretty amazing. The truly sad part is that nobody else cares about this sort of thing. I find it unfair that talking about being sober for a certain amount of time if you're an alcoholic or drug addict is inspiring and everyone congratulates you but talking about overcoming self-harm is not acceptable. This is largely due to the stigma associated with mental illness. I believe that understanding leads to acceptance and that understanding and acceptance together can lead to the destigmatization of mental health issues. Self-harm is an addiction, just like alcoholism, drugs, or even gambling. Like any addiction, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to overcome. What I find interesting (and sad) is that when recovering alcoholics or other addicts are in the recovery process and hit significant milestones, people make a big deal of it and think along the lines of, "oh you're getting better, it doesn't matter what you did in the past." So why don't people have that same accepting mentality for recovering self-harmers? Recovering from that sort of addiction is just as difficult and deserves the same sort of acceptance. Because of this stigma, whenever I have hit milestones I haven't really had anyone to tell other than a handful of people who already knew that I was something I struggled with. It's not something I share often. I have a really hard time sharing my story, but lately I've been thinking more and more about how much I want to make a difference in the destigmatization of mental illness and helping people realize there is a way out of their brains and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. How important that is to me helped me overcome some of my reservations about the matter. I'm really a very private person who always admires those who are brave enough to share their stories and how they healed. So I'm going to share a little bit right now: my name is Mallory and I haven't cut myself for 2 1/2 years as of this week. Being able to make that much progress is something to be proud of. So for anyone else out there struggling with something similar, I promise there is a way out. I don't care if you've managed to stay clean for a day, a week, a month, or a decade. YOU ARE AMAZING. You are overcoming a lot of powerful chemical reactions in your body and your brain. You're trying to get better, and that isn't something to be ashamed of. And I believe in you.