May is Mental Health Awareness Month

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – May is mental health awareness month. This awareness was started in 1949, Post World War II to give those suffering a better quality of life, and battle the stigma against mental health.

Developing a mental illness can stem from many things, like genetics, stress, or even the environment, and is commonly treated with medication or therapy.

Dr. Shawn Brown, Psychiatric attending at Med Center Health, says, “They’re in a place where they cannot trust their own thoughts, their own feelings, their own instincts, and that’s a very alienating concept. So, they have to have faith that the provider, the person that they are seeing, whoever is helping them, not only has their best interest at heart but is going to get them through it because they can’t do it themselves.”

Healthcare professionals encourage reaching out, not navigating your mental health alone, and using resources available.