“I knew well enough that one could fracture one’s legs and arms and recover afterward, but I did not know that you could fracture the brain in your head and recover from that too.” ― Vincent van Gogh
Maybe it’s our hyper-independent, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, don’t-tread-on-me attitude, or maybe it’s the staggering lack of accessible resources, but across every demographic, mental health outcomes in rural areas are worse than urban areas. (This is true of all healthcare outcomes, but mental health is top of mind this week, because it’s Mental Health Awareness Month.)
Overall, 1 in 5 Americans experiences mental illness of some kind, and it’s estimated only half receive treatment. Think about your 10 closest friends and acquaintances. Two of them are likely to have a mental illness and one of them is probably untreated. No biggie, right? Tell that to the parents who lost a child to suicide, or the family who lost a brother to schizophrenia, or the young mom struggling with postpartum depression, or the rugged old rancher doing battle with PTSD and clinical depression. It’s no big deal until it shows up, uninvited and unexpected, at your house. And it doesn’t discriminate according to your education, your work ethic, your race, your religion, your morals, or any other variable. The risk factor for mental illness is being a human.
I could go on a long tirade about the lack of mental health professionals in rural communities, the difficulty finding and paying for help, the years it can take to get an accurate diagnosis, the stigma that keeps people from seeking help or staying on their meds, or the general disaster that is our national healthcare system and insurance debacle. I could tell you the horror stories I’ve heard (and experienced) around trying to get access to care in rural northwest Colorado. Or I could share the good stories about people who found help and recovered. There are those, too. We could dive into the wonders of telehealth that have made therapy accessible to many more. But there isn’t the space for that in this week’s edition, so we’ll settle for this: this is your annual reminder to check in with yourself, your family, and your friends.
Are you OK? If the answer is no, or maybe, or “I dunno,” consider this your permission slip to ask for help. (*Some folks need permission to do things like rest, relax, or ask for help.)
Ask your doctor, talk to friends, check out one of the myriad teletherapy options, or call or text the Colorado Mental Health Line (988). That hotline provides a way for anyone with emotional, mental health, or substance use concerns to be immediately connected with a trained specialist for free, immediate, confidential human support 24/7.
Don’t delay. Don’t self-medicate. Don’t assume it will just go away on its own. Get help while you can, when you need it, before that mental illness takes you for a ride to somewhere you wouldn’t choose to go willingly.
