Today begins Mental HEALTH Awareness Month, yet, you look at the campaigns that dominate this month, & the focus (for over a decade now), has been on Mental Illness. Why?

I’m someone whose ultimate diagnosis (after being told I had about 12 other ones) was/is “C-PTSD.” So, by the modern medical model, I’d fit in that “1 in 5 group.” But that’s just not the right, inclusive message, to change the conversation for the better.

I don’t deny that the concept of disorders exist. But I’m a big believer that mental health lives on a continuum – where we are ALL impacted by life’s various challenges, our lifestyle choices, overlayed on top of our genetics.

Even if you look at the DSM-5, it says things like: if you have 5 or more of these symptoms for 2 weeks or more, then you have “XYZ Disorder.” Ok what if you have only 3 of them? 4 of them?? Who can definitively determine you have THAT symptom?

Is there anyone who has 100% perfect Mental Health? No way. It spans from cognitive fog/malaise to being bed bound in freeze mode, unable to move. It’s just like there is no one who has 100% perfect physical health: spanning from a painful ingrown toenail, to cancer.

With physical health we are inclusive: everyone at least thinks about going to the gym, to work on their health – to shed weight or put on weight…to do cardio to burn plaque in our arteries. We don’t say “X in 5” have heart disease as the motivator. We talk about “heart health.” Even with kids we talk about “Jump Rope & Hoops For Heart.” We get people up & moving bc that’s what we need & what’s healthy for ALL of us, so those things don’t develop.

It’s time we ditched the antiquated messages that do nothing but separate us into the “affected vs the unaffected.” If we think 1 in 5 was shared to make people feel less alone – well guess what – 5 in 5 shows we are all part of the same team & can all proactively work on our mental health. This space NEEDS a cultural shift.