Let’s say it bluntly: if there was a doctor who could measure anxiety instead of blood pressure, we would probably all be much healthier.
Because no, it’s not normal to wake up already tired, want to cry for no reason or feel overwhelmed by a life that goes faster than you. Yet, these things happen every day, to millions of people. Except no one talks about it — except when it arrives, right on time reminder ignored, World Mental Health Day, which is celebrated today, 10 October.
The numbers that make noise (but only on October 10th, then silence)
According to the WHO, over a billion people worldwide deal with mental disorders. We’re not talking about a bad day or a bit of stress: we’re talking about clinical diagnoses, about lives that struggle without support.
Yet, more than 75% of these people do not receive any type of treatment.
Worldwide, there are approximately 1 million suicides every year. 60% are linked to untreated depressive disorders.
In Italy, music doesn’t change:
Yet, going to the psychologist is still seen as a habit for the rich, something for people “who can’t do it on their own”. Meanwhile, there are those who are caught in an avalanche and can barely breathe – but “a walk is enough”.
The psychologist like the general practitioner: and perhaps with more empathy
The psychologist should be like the general practitioner. Only, instead of a stethoscope, he would have a super skill: listening to you without judging. Maybe he would prescribe something that the NHS doesn’t yet pass: a dose of introspection, a break from guilt, a bit of self-compassion.
We all know where the problem is, there’s no denying it: the public system is in pieces. Understaffed mental health centers, skeleton staff, record waiting lists. And those who can, pay out of their own pocket. The others? They pretend to be fine.
But pretending to be well is not well-being. It’s just emotional survival.
Therapy doesn’t fix you, but it teaches you not to break yourself (or at least to do it with style)
A psychologist doesn’t fix you, he’s not a guru and he doesn’t tell you who you are. Rather, it helps you understand where you end and the chaos begins, when to say “no,” and how to survive a life that gives you no instructions for use.
Ultimately, therapy is an overhaul of the soul. And, when the car makes a strange noise, you don’t expect it to explode so you can take it to the mechanic, right? So why should it be any different with us?
Not just therapy
Let’s be clear: going to the psychologist does not exclude the rest, on the contrary.
There are simple things we can do every day to support our mental health:
Mental health is an ecosystem. Therapy, yes, but also daily care, small gestures that remind us that we really deserve to feel good.
World Mental Health Day: a hashtag is not enough
October 10th is useful, but not enough. We need mental health to enter schools, workplaces, neighborhoods and clinics. We need the psychologist to become a public, free, normal figure.
Above all, we need to stop being ashamed of fragility.
Why no, everything is not fine. But it can get better if we start talking about it.
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