Do people who live with mental health issues feel isolated and disconnected from the community?

Recently I carried out a survey on a group of people who live with chronic mental health conditions to find out such things as where they socialise and who with, what they do for leisure and entertainment, who they trust and confide in, what they do to de-stress and where they spend the majority of their day.

The aim of the survey is to understand the triggers associated with mental health and how we as a community can help those that live with mental health every day to understand what they can do to make changes that will give them motivation and quality of life.  The people that I interviewed predominantly lived alone, had little or no family connection, were unemployed with minimal finances and suffered some type of illness or chronic pain.  Moreover, they admitted that they struggled to get out of the home due to their anxiety and depression which was exacerbated when leaving the home due to thoughts around meeting people and participating in social interaction.

I was astounded that the majority of those interviewed said they do not socialise at all and that they do not have any friends; the remainder said they occasionally interact with family.  Most of them looked surprised when I asked them what they do for leisure and entertainment, stating that the most they would do is watch television or maybe the occasional DVD, suggestive of the difficulty associated with pleasure activities when there were limited finances.  Most of the interviewees, said that they had little or no motivation to socialise and the anxiety associated with leaving the home to interact in the community was all too much.  Others said they would call someone, play with a pet if they owned one, or get on social media.

My concern with social media is that the more time you spend on social media, the higher the chance of feeling socially isolated.  I found the majority of the people that I interviewed said they trusted and would confide in their medical professionals or a family member.  Finally to de-stress and where they spend the majority of their day, the answers were similar, being either spending the most part of the day in bed or in front of the television or attending professional appointments or appointments with other agencies.

So the answer to the question, do people who live with mental health issues feel isolated and disconnected from the community? The answer is YES.

How can we as a community help?

• Check in with people that you know, living with mental health issues on a regular basis.
• Encourage them to seek professional help.
• Suggest ways that they may be able to help themselves to get motivated, i.e.  Getting out of the home and going for walks is not only good for the body but also the mind.
• Help them to seek out community connections such as volunteering, self-help groups, social groups, community leisure courses, even part-time work if they are in a position to do that.
• Some people may find pets as a good companion; they are great for people that are isolated.

These suggestions might not be for everyone, sometimes it may just be a matter of having someone to talk with that will show some compassion, understanding and display good listening skills.

Find out your options to reduce mental health isolation in your life. Contact me here.