In the world we live in, the fostering of mental well-being is often put on the back burner, placing low on our list of priorities, if it makes it there at all. Partly, it is pushed aside because most people are taught from a young age not to show “weakness” in mentality, implicitly teaching us that the expression of emotions beyond a certain range and, in short, openly displaying that you are human, is weak. As a result, many individuals who are suffering mental anguish to an unhealthy degree remain silent out of fear of appearing weak. So, they tell themselves what they are feeling is no big deal and they need to get over it, burying negative thoughts and feelings deep within, where they fester and inevitably impact various areas of a person’s life. Many people who do end up seeking help in improving their mental well-being do so by visiting their primary care physician or a psychiatrist, whose solutions to such ‘problems’ are psychiatric medications with side effects that all too commonly result in a worsening of mental health.
