How does your community support emotional well-being? 

Before starting, I would like to say that this information was given to me by my mother who has had problems with mental health. She thinks there is a lot to improve and there is a lack of financial resources to make services faster and more efficient for the patient. As a consequence, there is a very long waiting list. Another consequence of the lack of financial resources is not being able to hire personnel to accompany the patient. 

The personnel are necessary to accompany the sick and be able to do good follow-up. Besides this, they need to spend the necessary time on the treatment and try not to just give medications. My mom says that when there are no human resources, issues are solved with medication. She has been relatively “lucky.” After the diagnosis, she found a professional that helped her with the disease, first by naming the problem, then taking a precise medication to solve the illness, and finally accompanying her for the necessary time. 

How has your community’s approach to mental health changed over time? 

The perception of mental health has improved. It seems more normal to speak of mental health. And it is already normal to hear about problems like anxiety and depression. On the other hand, people still have a great lack of knowledge about work and the struggle that is necessary to find cures. When my mother has talked about her illness, some people have not given it the same importance as they give to other illnesses. 

These types of diseases are silent, arrive little by little, and you can’t talk about them with anybody because it is uncomfortable, so the people that have this type of disease remain quiet, making the situation worse. My mother learned not to be ashamed. This is so complicated but necessary. 

My mother works in a school. And she thinks that the students must know this type of illness and need to learn, also, that if you have that type of disease, you aren’t crazy. If my mother speaks with normality of mental health, some students could be represented. Approximately 34% of the Spanish population suffers from some type of mental disorder, with anxiety and depression being the most common.

I think that society needs better comprehension. It is not enough to remember mental health one day per year. These diseases are silent and solitary. And the people close to the sick ones don’t know what to do. Even when the person knows what to do, it is difficult to move forward because it is a long and complicated road, even if it is only to wake up, only to go out of the house, only to eat healthy. According to my mother, when you have a mental illness, your mind controls you, you don’t control your mind. It’s like if someone controls the decisions of your life without you being able to do anything. 

Ignorance isn’t something to blame on the person but on the society that prefers to look away.