Today, October 10 2008 is Blue Day for the Australian tech and social media community. We’re using it to raise awareness of anxiety and depression - issues that have affected many of us (including several people close to me). If you’re on Twitter, you’ll notice many of us have added a blue tinge to our avatars.
Globally, October 10 is World Mental Health Day. In Australia, organisations such as beyondblue are running Anxiety and Depression Awareness Month.
Awareness in your own life of the signs of declining mental health - both personally and in those around you - is critical. If you do nothing else today, do some reading about mental health awareness and management and then get outside in the fresh air and take a walk - exercise is a key factor in helping sufferers of mental health issues get well.
Hi Stephen, thanks for this.
I found out within the last couple years that I have Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. Autism spectrum disorders are neurological in nature (not emotional) but the challenges cause many with AS to struggle with anxiety and depression throughout their lives.
Ike, thanks for the comment. I’ve often suspected I have undiagnosed Asperger’s myself…
I’m generally of the opinion that the milder forms of autism affect more people than we realize - and I think that’s part of the reason why the number of diagnoses for AS have been increasing rapidly in recent months. But not everyone who’s affected by it has symptoms severe enough to merit a diagnosis however - a lot of people who exhibit the symptoms are functioning okay and are probably better off without a diagnosis (and associated difficulties getting health insurance, etc.) In my case the symptoms have been severe enough that I got an official diagnosis last year. I’ve made a point about being open about having the condition because I think there are a lot of people in the workforce who have some of the symptoms and I think with that in mind raising awareness is good for everyone.
So I’m all for these kinds of awareness campaigns.
My comment got way too long, so I turned it into a page of its own: http://tinyurl.com/3sfh6x