Mental Health Awareness Week has been run by the Mental Health Foundation since 2001 and this years theme is kindness.
Mental health is such an important topic to me - firstly because I have worked in mental health settings, seeing both the good and bad sides of NHS and community services available, and secondly because of how I feel (and have felt) mentally in the past. Mental health, just like physical health is something we all have, and something we all need to work on and nurture.
Anxiety and depression are significantly more common in people with migraine than in the general population - something I posted about previously - with over 50% of migraine sufferers also having some kind of anxiety disorder, and 30% having depression.
At the Migraine World Summit Steven M. Baskin of the New England Center for Headache & Behavioral Medicine stated that anxiety and mood disorders "travel together” with migraine, and implored patients and clinicians not to treat the disorders simply as a side effect of migraine, but as co-occurring conditions that both deserve attention.
So why kindness?
Well just like a negative comment can stick with you - so can a positive one.
A YouGov Poll found that 63% of UK adults agree that when other people are kind it has a positive impact on their mental health, and the same proportion agree that being kind to others has a positive impact on their mental health and wellbeing - with evidence showing that being kind to and helping others can help to reduce our own levels of stress, as well as improving our mood, self-esteem and overall happiness.
Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Doing good and seeing the positive impact we can have on others can also help us to have a more positive outlook on our own situations, and improve our optimism for the future. Being kind can involve volunteering our time, donating money, buying someone a gift - but being kind doesn't have to cost time or money - a simple text to a friend, or a reaction to an insta story can be enough to brighten someone else's day.
It's also important to be kind to ourselves. Chronic illness and mental illness take up vast amounts of energy - it's nice to be nice to others, but it's also importantto be kind to ourselves.
It's important to remember that whatever you've done today is enough - whether it's learning a new skill, couch-to-5K, or changing into a new set of pyjama's - and there is no stigma in seeking help with your mental health.
Below are some of the many resources available to help educate, raise awareness and provide support with mental illness in the UK:
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