Mental Health — The Trend

Don’t Be the Boy Who Cried Wolf; The Sheep Suffer

Mental health is serious and should be respected in a serious manner. Using the phrase recklessly diminishes the severity of mental health for those who are honestly challenged in that area and could cause them to not receive the necessary support.

Recall the story of the boy who cried wolf. He falsely cried wolf so many times that when a wolf actually came, no one responded because they did not believe him.

Mental health is something we all have, like physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Many, like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka, have brought mental health to the forefront, especially for black women and athletes. As I indicate in my article, I don’t like when people negate the realness of us (black women). So, when we get the proper acknowledgment of our humanness in areas like mental health, I applaud the black women who take courageous action to bring awareness.

Now that society, particularly the black community, is more aware and accepting of mental health challenges, I believe Twitter is quick to categorize situations as mental health-related. For example, when Sha’Carri Richardson came in last during the recent 100-meter race, I saw a few on Twitter try to say it was due to her mental health.

That is when I realized that mental health is becoming a trending buzzword. Now that people are aware of it, and others have rightfully made it acceptable, people are applying it to any situation that is similar to prior instances — in this case, a black, female athlete. Since this past weekend, people have rightfully been concerned about Sha’Carri’s mental health due to the jokes and memes following her loss. However, I have not seen posts suggesting her loss is due to her being challenged in her physical health due to a month’s hiatus. One would hope she worked on her physical, emotional, and mental health while on hiatus from a mistake and grieving the loss of her birth mother.

And what if she does have mental health challenges…but she won the race…would people be concerned about her mental health?

News Flash: Winners have mental health challenges and losing does not necessarily mean there is a mental health challenge.

None of us can diagnose a person’s mental health from watching from afar, or in this case from watching one race. We have to allow the person to tell us about their health, not impose our improper, social media-researched beliefs on someone.

Further, mental health is not a Get Out of Jail Free card to be thrown around aimlessly. Those who really suffer from mental health challenges don’t want what is very real for them to be blanketly applied to situations or misused by people to improperly excuse an unsatisfactory result.

Now that mental health is gaining traction and sympathy, I’m concerned that people will misuse and abuse it for their advantage.

My concern is that if mental health is the reason for everything, then when it really applies, it will not get the proper attention, care, concern, and support needed by the individual.

So, please check yourselves and your friends, family, and followers on the use of mental health in conversation. Don’t be the boy who cried wolf. Someone’s life may depend on it. The sheep suffer.

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