I think there are signs we’ve been conditioned to overlook as a society though. Parent seems frazzled and exhausted? Well that’s just part of parenting. And yes, it’s hard to know if it’s “regular” tiredness or something more. But if a friend has a cough and it’s not going away, we’d tell them they should see a doctor.
There is some kind of “timeframe” for physical symptoms where most of us would tell the other person to get it checked out. But we as a society haven’t learned that same kind of timeframe for mental health stuff. Hopefully now that we’re becoming more aware of all the ways things like ADHD and autism can show up, we’ll start noticing when those around us are struggling. Even better, maybe we should all get at least annual mental health checks like we do for our bodies, teeth and eyes.
I think there are signs we’ve been conditioned to overlook as a society though. Parent seems frazzled and exhausted? Well that’s just part of parenting. And yes, it’s hard to know if it’s “regular” tiredness or something more. But if a friend has a cough and it’s not going away, we’d tell them they should see a doctor.
There is some kind of “timeframe” for physical symptoms where most of us would tell the other person to get it checked out. But we as a society haven’t learned that same kind of timeframe for mental health stuff. Hopefully now that we’re becoming more aware of all the ways things like ADHD and autism can show up, we’ll start noticing when those around us are struggling. Even better, maybe we should all get at least annual mental health checks like we do for our bodies, teeth and eyes.