By Sivonna Stringham
The month of May is known for different things – Cinco de Mayo and Star Wars Day being two of the more well known holidays to celebrate. May is also known as Mental Health Awareness Month, and specifically on May 5th, National Silence the Shame Day, is a day to help bring awareness to the stigma and shame around mental health. It’s becoming more common to discuss the struggles that we (as humans) face, rather than put on a façade and brave the day, acting like nothing is wrong. More people are starting to understand that therapy isn’t just about going because one may be in a crisis, but to also learn other tools and resources for daily life. Even though mental health is being discussed more openly, many people still wrestle with feelings of shame when it comes to their mental health.
Well, what is shame? According to the Merriam-Webster, shame is defined as, “A painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety; a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute; something to be regretted.” People may experience this type of emotion over negative core beliefs (i.e. I’m not good enough), or for something that was out of their control. Some people may feel shame for lying and/or not passing an exam. When experiencing shame, an individual’s response may be to cover the emotion with something else, such as dissociating through social media, television, displacing that shame onto a loved one, and more. Shame is an emotion that deserves to be felt, acknowledged, and worked through. Easier said than done though, which is why Silence the Shame Day was founded in 2017 by The Hip-Hop Professional Foundation, Inc. to help bring more awareness as well as provide some resources for individuals to learn more and help work through the emotion. Shanti Das established the nonprofit due to her own mental health struggles and others around her also struggling. She has a website established, silencetheshame.com that further dives into the mental health movement, how others can help, and resources are also provided to those that check out the website.
Taking that first step towards mental health, towards silencing the shame, can be scary. No one has to do it alone though. Shame wants to keep people isolated and feeling bad about themselves. Shame can be a heavy, yet comfortable, weight to carry. One step at a time, it will be okay to let go of the shame and seek the help that one may need. No one is alone in the battle against shame.
Resources:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shamesilencetheshame.com