In my fourth blog post for my short story, ‘The Whispers, They Scream’, I will be doing some more research to back up the second half of my plot outline, the ‘climax’, ‘falling action’, ‘resolution’. In this post I will research mainly how people stuggle to talk to their loved ones about sensitive topics and open up about mental health, and how people can talk to or help their loved ones who they know are struggling.
People tend to shy away from taboo topics, that’s why their taboo. One study found that when the topics of money, personal issues or problems, religion, the past, family, and romantic relationships, among others, people tended to avoid talking about them (1). When these topics were brought up, people tended to experience negative emotions like anxiety and annoyance (1). They also reacted by changing the subject, not responding, or ending the conversation (1). Sensitive topics have the potential to cause physical or emotional distress to people, causing them to feel emotions such as sadness, andger, and fear (4). A topic that could also be considered sensitive or taboo is mental health. There is a lot of stigma around mental health, causing people to not ask for help out of shame (2). Teens said one of the reasons they didn’t reach out for help with their mental health was becuase they thought they were supposed to deal with their emotions on their own (2). Teenagers also stated that they didn’t get mental health help because they worried what others would think if they got treatment, and they worried their information wouldn’t be kept private (2). Stigma can lead to discrimination. Discriminantion could be obvious and direct, like someone making a remark or negative comment about a mental health condition (3). It can also be more subtle, like people avoiding someone with a mental health condion because the assume they’re unstable or dangerous (3). People can also be affected in dfferent ways by stigma due to their ethnicity, gender and culture (2)(3).
People shouldn’t shy away from sensitive topics though; the more they do, the less and less those topics will be normalised. In the professional world, when sensitive topics are being discussed, people must take measures to respect and protect confidentiality and privacy (4). In conversation, people must aim to make others feel invited and safe, not like they’re being judged or shamed (4). When talking about sensitive topics, we should make sure it’s in a calm and quiet setting where we aren’t likely to be disturbed (5). We should arrange to talk at a suitable time, to not randomly blurt out an issue in the middle of conversation (5). We should be positive, trying to stay away from accusations and negative comments. To add, we should ask for what we want, instead of berating others about what they’re doing wrong (6). In might be helpful to write out a genral idea of what we’re planning to say ahead of time and read it out loud to see how it sounds. Hearing what we’ve writtien will help us imagine what it might sound like to someone else (6). Pertaining to mental health, avoiding stigmatizing language is important (7). Sigmatizing language can discourage people to seek help, and can help spread misjudgues and assumptions about mental health (7). If our mental health is bothering us and we want to reach out, we should set the expectations for the conversation (8). Preparing our listener by making sure they understand that the topic and conversation is important, will help all parties be on the same page and open to listen (8). We should also give concrete advince about what we’re struggling with, to hopefully help other parties understand what we’re going through. Identifying what support and aid we’re looking for, and what help we want vs. the boundaries we want to set, will help the listeners know what steps they need to take to be of aid (8).
Sources:
- https://pollackpeacebuilding.com/blog/recent-study-dives-deep-on-the-conversations-we-avoid-and-why-we-avoid-them/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11701813/
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/in-depth/mental-health/art-20046477
- https://academic.oup.com/eurjcn/article/24/3/488/7761136#512178873
- https://www.independentage.org/get-advice/family-friends-and-carers/sensitive-conversations/practical-tips
- https://lifehacker.com/how-to-talk-about-sensitive-topics-so-that-people-will-1578544857?test_uuid=zXnWOLjQQwkYjMVwrvo5w&test_variant=A
- https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/how-we-talk-about-mental-health/
- https://www.lakeheadu.ca/students/wellness-recreation/student-health-and-wellness/stopthestigma/how-to-talk-about-mental-health
