Despite a lot of encouragement, societal freedoms, and exhortations, we suffer, still, most of us, in silence. We don’t quite say what’s wrong, what we want, how we’re angry, what are the things we’re ashamed of, and how we wanted situations to come out to be– until it is way too late. Guilt, depression, anxiety, trauma, and shame are just a few of the symptoms that victims may have to deal with after going through sexual or physical assault and abuse which caused them a traumatic experience. Regardless of all of the advances made in understanding depression, post-traumatic disorder, and other mental illnesses, these conditions are still ruthlessly stigmatized.
The negative perception and discernment are most likely to come from people who are unaware of what mental illness is and what it means to struggle with it. Standing up to mental health stigma is a significant way to support your own mental health and contribute to the community by giving voice to those who are voiceless and still suffering in silence. Traumatic events can fundamentally change not only victims’ way of life, but also their psychological outlook towards it. Many argue that these experiences will not go away unless it is actively confronted; the goal of trauma healing is to acknowledge what they had been through as well as integrate it into a sort of personal or collective rebirth; to give victims a feeling that they have control over their lives again.
The scariest thing about a recovery process for ending traumas is that the only person they can rely on is themselves. However, we can help these victims in our own little way by advocating and educating those who are ill-informed as we’ve reached a time where we have to stop the ruthless stigma and end the silenced trauma.
