World Mental Health Week 2011

I missed doing anything for RUOK day as I was away and operating on limited bandwidth.  So I thought I would do a post on Mental Health Week.  World Mental Health Day is held every year on 10 October.  This year Mental Health week started 9 October and runs until tomorrow.  Here is the description from the Australian World Mental Health Week site.

Mental Health Week is all about raising awareness of mental health and wellbeing in the wider community. A critical part of reducing stigma and supporting those with a mental illness and their carers is education.

This awareness and understanding can come from many sources. Throughout Mental Health Week local and regional events are organised by many different communities, not-for-profit organisations, individuals and workplaces. These events, coupled with the information available in the web links, serve to generate discussion about mental health and get people sharing and talking about this important issue.

I will say that I am disappointed with the lack of information on Mental Health at this website. The links they have are for lots of different sites but I could not easily find information about mental health itself. If you do want information, I’d suggest going straight to www.sane.org or the Mental Illness Foundation of Australia.

The Flannel Flower – Australia’s Symbol for Mental Health Awareness From the MCHA site

Some of the blogs I read have done posts for it so I thought I would add those links for your perusal.
Adalita mentions it in her Friday Fitness post.
Pysch Babbler talks about it over at Over Cups of Coffee.
Katrina who is The Organised Housewife even has a giveaway running to coincide with it.
Suzi over at Under the Windmills didn’t post about Mental Health Week itself, but this post shows a positive experience in a Mental Health Unit.
The rest of this post is probably going to be Too Much Info.  It’s because I think Mental Health is very important.  So, after a few deep breaths here we go.
I grew up in a house where one parent drank and one parent had mental health issues.  I’m not sure if Parent 2’s alcoholism was to cope with Parent 1’s mental health issues or not.  It could have been. I remember Parent 1 had depression on a number occasions.  But having discussed my childhood with a few professionals it seems highly likely that Parent 1 had Borderline Personality Disorder. Probably with depression and anxiety as well.
So, where did that leave me?  I grew up as an only child.  Most of Parent 1’s anger etc. was taken out on me.  I grew up with a fear of hands around my neck, issues with kitchen knives and a huge aversion to being called Bitch and being touched. Sometimes I still flinch when people yell near or at me.
I have a propensity for depression.  I am very aware of my issues and try to stop them affecting my family in particular and my life in general. I don’t want my issues affecting my children.  I don’t want to perpetuate the cycle.
Sometimes though, I wonder what I would have been like as a person if I didn't feel that I had to be careful about everything I said or did.