mental illness

Apple’s new iPhone may have received its biggest makeover yet for its 10th anniversary, but it isn’t the only thing Apple is looking to change.

Today is World Mental Health Day.

According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, one in five people are living with mental health issues or illness. Students spend a significant amount of time in the classroom, a space that can either address these issues or significantly contribute to them. 

The discussion around mental health can make people feel uncomfortable, or embarrassed. Because of that it is an endlessly silenced topic. But if people dismiss their apprehensiveness by speaking up, they are ostracized.

Three-quarters of lifelong mental illnesses emerge between the ages of 18 and 24. By age 25, 20 per cent of Canadians will have developed a mental illness.

As students, we ought to be aware of our mental health and learn strategies to maintain it. But what does that entail?

Picture this: 11 weeks stuck in your bedroom after a complicated five-hour ankle surgery. Two metal rods and 20 screws later, you cannot walk. You just hop on your right foot to the bathroom, then back to bed. At the same time, the incessant banging of your major home renovation goes on all day long. Meals are brought to you in bed. You have to ask every time you want something, even just a glass of water.

How are you feeling? Trapped, secluded, isolated.  To sum it up in one word: depressed.