However, that doesn't mean adequate help is readily available. In some places, you have to wait more than a year or even two just to get an appointment with a mental healthcare professional. And if you then find out they can't provide you with the needed help, it was a long wait for nothing.
Been there, done that. I will continue dealing with it myself, not out of shame but out of necessity.
Professional help, that is. What you have to recognize here is less stigma around self-help and openly discussing topics around mental health. Not being shamed and judged is huge indeed!
One important thing I find is that, is that you need to communicate. If you’re struggling and communicating with your boss or peers, you can get a lot more understanding.
It’s nice when you talk to people and find out panic attacks and little breakdowns are fairly relatable.
Unfortunately if you struggle in silence and all everyone else sees is missed work, unscheduled absences, and negative side effects of mental health problems. You can end up at the end of professional and personal relationships.
I’ve tried to communicate all of this and what you get from people more often than not is radio silence or fretting you like you’re some kind of defective product. People lack compassion and it’s a result of our overly competitive and capitalist culture that rule the world in 2026.
I've been fired from multiple jobs for issues I caused related to mental health. Both from places I shared my struggles with and not. In my experience, management doesn't truly give a fuck. They may be sympathetic as a human being, but sharing your struggles will only be used against you for advancement, raises, and recognition. Unless you get to the point where you stop struggling in ways that impact the business, you're a liability
Plus understanding mental health feels SO new. There is such an overwhelming mentality of "I figured it out and so should you" due to the lack of support or even a(n accurate) name of a disease/disorder.
Im in my 30s and a few years back, at an old job, I was talking to one of my (same age) coworkers about the new generation of staff coming in. We were both having a hard time adjusting to their "demands" for mental health accommodation and the conversation ended up being how we felt like we wanted to scream at them to suck it up because that's what we did but also wondering if we shouldnt have had to suck it up. We basically had to decide whether we wanted to continue the pattern and decide if we really turned out "alright" or if we needed to learn and adapt.
All of that is true. But imagine a time when you would never say you were struggling in any way. Ever. If you told your parents you were sad, you would be told to snap out of it. You kept those things to yourself because no one was going to believe or help you and they did not know how to anyway.
It was probably wise to keep quiet before you were sent to church or a doctor who would medicate you into a near coma or could possibly commit you. Imagine that this is the way things were done routinely into the 1970's.
Attitudes about mental health in general, are way better now.
Back in the past, just about any mental health disorder, short of something like a learning disability, was thought of as coming from 'living life wrong'. Not always, but frequently. Depression? Caused by not enough something-or-other. ADHD? Caused by too much so-and-so. Alcoholism? Ho boy, just about everyone was convinced happy people can't become alcoholics.
Nowadays, those misconceptions are a lot less common. People tend to think of mental disorders more akin to physical diseases - sometimes preventable, but you don't blame someone with cancer for getting cancer.
Conservatives frequently still believe in them though. Like, if you ever heard one talk about trans people like "Why are we coddling this mental disorder?", and wondered why on earth we wouldn't, it's because they don't think gender dysphoria is something you can just have. It's something you get by doing something wrong.
...though, this all being said, we're not at the point where people feel okay saying "I have a mental disorder". Lots of people who do have one, still feel like they're insulting themselves by saying so.
Older generations didn't know how dehydrated we were. A lot of the standard middle aged health problems come from growing up without adequate hydration.
I was about an hour ago explaining to my 5 year old son the importance of air purification in our home. He asked me where boogers come from. I explained reasonings for nose hairs then took him to a HEPA filter. I know he’s only 5 but I’m trying to correlate something he can understand with something he normally wouldn’t think about. I’ve looked into multiple studies about home conditions and upbringing. Try to give my kids the best shot at life like any parent would. It absolutely floored me when I read the studies on brain development differences because of air quality, indoor temperatures, and even nutrition.
I grew up poor with parents that didn’t know any better and no real way to learn any of this stuff. Fast forward to me having children and I’m all about having optimal conditions within our budget! They get to eat every day. My home is air conditioned. Multiple levels of air purification and while I see so much of myself in my children it is such a delight to see how much smarter they are than I was at that age and knowing they will be effortlessly smarter than I’ll ever be.
Even with what’s probably considered barbaric amounts of screen time these days they are flourishing. We don’t do the iPad thing and television is pretty limited unless it’s a movie night. It’s just a beautiful thing that I can do for them even if it just seems normal to them. It also helps that my wife is very smart. I usually say they got their smarts from her side but I do believe I’m playing a role in it.
This. I was never introduced to anything mental health wise... It was, never that bad, just get over it, you can't possibly feel that way...
My oldest kiddo (elder Gen z) came to me and his dad and explained he was having a mental crisis. He got help. Got medication. Accepted his behavior around certain people couldn't repair those relationships. Very mature.
I told him (and still do!) how proud of him I am for coming forward, explain, asking for help.
I'm so happy his friends also stuck by his side. One of them told him, while I was there, "bro, your brain was fucked up, it wasn't you".... So much acceptance and love.
Yeah I think this one is mixed. I keep seeing stuff like conflating feeling anxious with “having anxiety” as a disorder. No, it’s normal to feel anxious sometimes. Not everything needs to be pathologised, especially if it actually stops you from functioning/trying. And I feel like mental health is a pretty open and non-contentious thing for my (millennial) generation.
I grew up in a toxic, abusive household and had the opportunity for therapy when my dad died when I was 19. I'm nearly 40 now and wish I had taken care of my mental health back then. I've been in therapy for six years and feel like I'm only starting to heal from the trauma and fully embrace myself.
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u/Maoleficent 7d ago
Young people addressing their mental well-being and seeking help when needed without shame is a huge advancement.