According to the Canadian Mental Health Association: “Mental illness is increasingly recognized as a serious and growing problem. It is estimated that 1 in 5 Canadians, close to six million, will develop a mental illness at some time in their lives. Many more individuals such as family, friends, and colleagues are also affected.”Think about that. One in five will develop a mental illness and those who do not develop a mental illness themselves will nevertheless be exposed to its ravages at some point in their life.
I often wonder about these statistics. There is such a taboo associated with mental afflictions that I can only imagine the people who are unaccounted for by this statistical model. How many people suffer in silence and shame? How many people are trapped alone in a world of homelessness, shunned by society without access to the help they need?
Mental illness can be caused by a variety of factors. It can be rooted in environmental, physiological, and genetic origins - just like diabetes, cancer, or heart disease. So why is mental illness shrouded by taboo? The problem is empathy, or lack thereof. None of us have a problem recognizing the challenges facing a person in a wheelchair. We all can imagine a world without sight just by closing our eyes. How can we empathize with an invisible ailment? How can we associate with a person who is unable to see and interpret the world the same way as ourselves? This, my friends, is the rub. Their interpretation is their reality, it is not your reality. It takes great patience and compassion to cope with an individual who is suffering from a mental illness.
Look at your world around you. Now imagine if you take all the colours and make them brighter, more vibrant, so vibrant that they are saturated. Take all the sounds around you and multiply them so that they become a cacophony of noise. Now imagine trying to have a conversation with a person with all this visual and audible discordance deluging your senses. If you can accurately imagine this, you are only seeing a fraction of the challenges that could be facing someone suffering from a mental disorder. By no means am I suggesting it is as simple as that. However that image is something that I can imagine, and that image helps me curb my frustrations when I am confronted with the challenge of communicating with someone overwhelmed by their interpretation of their situation.
This weekend was a very emotional experience for me. I promoted three truly inspiring individuals to the rank of black belt. Even though they all worked together as a team throughout the grading process, each one of them overcame many personal obstacles to accomplish this achievement. I could not be more proud. The scope of their achievement is really put into perspective when you consider that one of the three has Asperger Syndrome. I can only imagine the determination required to push one’s self to overcome this challenge and achieve this rank. This individual’s refusal to classify this affliction as a handicap, and her ability to see the positives associated with it is a tribute to human spirit and an inspiration that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
“Mental health problems do not affect three or four out of every five persons but one out of one.”
- Dr. William Menninger (1899 - 1966)
1 comment:
This is, truly inspiring, Sifu.
I wont name any names, but the sifu with aspergers syndrome told me that after the promotions, a lady s/he had never met before came up to her, crying, and started to hug her. she said "My son has a mental illness. you have truly inspired him to want to do Kung fu." When I heard this, I started to think of the challenges that mentally ill people might have. After reading this blog entry, I now feel true empathy for them. thank you for this.
Sifu Schermbrucker.
Post a Comment