Stigma Shatters but Your Mental Health Matters
Editor's note: Thank you to Ally for your work surrounding mental health, and for continuing to advocate for those living with a mental illness.
I created this film to raise awareness for mental illness. After eight months of working towards this creation, I am proud to share it! This film started as an idea that I had ~ if people felt supported and understood, then the stigma surrounding mental illness would slowly disappear. With this, I got in contact with people from all around the world who were eager to share their mental illness stories. The topics spoken of include, Eating Disorders, Agoraphobia, Anxiety Disorders, PTSD, Sexual Assault, Dissociative Identity Disorder, OCD, Depression, Domestic Violence, Borderline Personality Disorder, Anxiety after Trauma or loss, Self Harm, and Suicide. Sharing their stories helps them in their healing process, educates others, and allows for proper communication to start.
Mental illness can affect anyone at any age or phase in their lifetime for a majority of reasons. By sharing experiences, people start to feel less alone and more likely to ask for help. Learning the signs of depression can help so many people who are struggling. Untreated Depression is one of the number one causes for suicide. If our society is continuously teaching kids, teenagers, college students.. to simply “deal” with the effects of the mental illnesses they are struggling with, it then becomes a secret, and when something so severe as a mental illness becomes a secret with those closest to you, the mental illness only worsens. By listening to the stories shared in my film, I immediately felt a sense of understanding in relation to my own personal struggles. I was able to talk to some of the cast, and I felt incredible with the amount of appreciation and thanks I received for helping build a platform for their stories.
Your friend, your child, your spouse, your parent. your sibling or anyone else you care deeply about.. May need your help in the future, dealing with a mental illness. So even if you stand by the stigma, it does not change this ~ Someone you love might need YOU to support them, YOU to guide them down a healthy path..You can easily be placed in that position, and YOU can be the change in someone’s life. So, I thank you for reading my passionate basis and showing an interest in the film!
- Ally Comba
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