Have you ever felt that a word or term has lost its meaning or has become too normal for you to say already? Semantic satiation is "the effect in which a word seems to lose its meaning after it has been repeated many times in rapid succession", and it can be observed in a very commonplace situation: in school.
Notice how students frequently throw several familiar words around—anxious, depressed, tired. There is actually so much more to these words when you look at them from a mentally conscious perspective: someone who says they're anxious could be suffering from intrusive, obsessive, panicky thoughts for roughly six months already; someone who says they're depressed could be dealing with intense sadness, bad mood swings, and loss of motivation (among other things) for at least two weeks; and someone who continually expresses how tired they are might be burned out—feeling exceptionally drained from high workplace (or in students' case, school) stress. The problem is that the more we say these words without being fully aware of the meanings they convey, we end up misusing them and minimizing their true essence, and this is what perpetuates misconceptions about mental health—that it’s much less of a problem than it really is.
To cite a more specific case, a typical Asian child in today's society most likely grew up a) around people who are religious and tend to entrust a lot of things to a higher power (or powers); b) so used to distracting themselves with the company of their family and/or friends or by doing academic and extracurricular work; or c) both. Unfortunately, this normality does not and will never mean it's okay.
This is probably the most important lesson I've learned in my three years in college: humans have their downtimes, too. Even the best make mistakes, get tired, lose their temper, need breaks—and contrary to what anyone else says, it's perfectly normal. I spent 14 years in Makati Hope hustling almost non-stop and building a relatively commendable track record, pushing all my emotional and mental struggles under the rug until I ended up losing all the relationships I held dear simply because I kept denying the possibility that there really was a serious problem I had to face, one that was not going to go away through mere prayer or hiding behind piles of books to read and papers to do. (For context, come my graduation from senior high school, all I did was claim my awards, take photos with anyone I ran into—I don’t even have photos with my barkada because I lost them, too.)
More than prayer, more than trusting higher powers, and more than distracting ourselves with mountains of work, we must recognize that we too make mistakes, and that all things happen in the process of learning. The best thing that can really be done is to find someone you can trust, be it a friend, a teacher, a guidance counselor, or a therapist, and fight the little voice in your head that tells you that asking for help is a sign of weakness because just as we’d ask doctors or visit the nurses in the clinic for help when we feel feverish or dizzy, we need to ask for help when it comes to issues with our emotional and mental health that we don’t understand. Open up to your person/people of choice, but only with their consent—that is, if only if they’re in the capacity to listen to you; never assume that just because they listen to you once, they’ll always be prepared for your emotional load.
In turn, those who are entrusted with the most vulnerable sides of people must be careful with how they handle these sentiments: they should learn how to firmly draw a line between comforting, giving friendly advice, and redirecting the people who open up to them to seek professional help. While a good number of people feel better after venting or ranting to a friend, others may feel more assured by talking to a professional guidance counselor or therapist but are probably scared to do so—when this happens, be a friend and promise to be supportive and not judgmental throughout their healing process, and don’t share the information they entrust to you with others. Also, watch your words; to adults, be open to the fact that people younger than you do struggle with things you personally can’t see, and to students, if you really think the system we’ve grown up with is that bad, and you want to change things, be part of the change by breaking the stigma and educating yourself and those around you who make fun of mental health issues—you’ll never know how many more will be thankful for your efforts.
Story by Sabina Ma, Vikings Batch 2017
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