2nd year blog

Unit 11 – Essay Question

“How can performing arts improve mental health?”

Mental heath. A range of mental illnesses that effect feelings, mood, thinking and behaviour. This effects 1 out 10 young people between ages 5-16, meaning 3 young people are diagnosed with a mental illness in YOUR classroom without your knowledge. Most people think that mental illness is just an illness called anxiety but anxiety is actually part of mental health itself. Mental illness basically means very big feelings that come without are control or consent into our lives and stays for a very long time therefore affecting our mental health. Depending on what type of person you are, it’s changes variously on how much it can effect your life and how much you are willing you take, it’s sad to say that every 40 seconds someone around the world has yet again take their own life…

Most people know how to take care of their physical health but when it comes to mental health it’s not as easy as helping yourself physically. You try to find a distraction but it’s only temporary as some people force themselves to find a distraction with any substance that they don’t usually ever seek  just to take the pain and bad thoughts away. Others seek distraction and  “temporary peace” from necessities like alcohol, power regardless of what power they choose to seek and drugs of any class. Most people that go into drugs suffer from mental illness or something that they choose to want to run away from. People really believe this will heal what they feel or numb the pain for some hours but it’s actually does the opposite, helping for a short amount of time then hitting harder because you don’t always have the drugs you acquire, then leading to stress and lack of focus on school work which makes subjects that you once loved deeply into a lesson you would not want to attend because you want to take pills with the bad crowd you got caught up in. Mental health is not something people choose to have but rather a illness that slowly creeps up on you, meaning small things like losing the hair band you wore last week, triggers bigger emotions because of feelings that have been kept in the back of your brain and heart  for quite a while. It’s not just one thing but a load  of things which can be seen as a burden to carry everyday.

From my personal experience dealing with mental health and trying my best to over come it was harder than any test I took in secondary school or harder than any audience I had to face when I could hardly remember my lines. It was like trying to overcome your biggest fear but anytime you was near to conquering your one and only fear, another bigger fear would come and hit you straight  in the face.. Being alone made it worst as I all I would do was over think so much that I had to force myself to sleep just because I didn’t want to think about the things that made my life worst than it already was.. Family problems didn’t make it any better nor did people from my school or the friends I thought would help me through anything because I did the same.. it even came to a point where I didn’t even wanna leave my house to go to church because I wanted god to take me out of what I was in but he didn’t seem to be listening to me, I had lost hope in faith and humanity.. It was like that way for quite a while as my real friends tried their hardest to help me, I would push them away because honestly no one truly understood how I felt and why I do what I do. I tried to talk to my family and they helped me so much when I went really dark and felt to end my life.. honestly I wouldn’t be here talking about why performing arts helps with mental health if I didn’t have people full of positivity to cast out my darkness and negativity that constantly followed me. I try to get rid of this by going to the gym and losing weight and feeling good about myself or taking care of others so I would also feel better, I did loads of things but nothing and I mean nothing mad me feel better or even even I felt happier it was only for a short amount of time so not a glory long lived. That’s when I felt like there was not point in living and feeling this way everyday, thinking about hurting myself everyday till I tried to actually end my own life.

I think it’s when my mum forced me to go to church one day that I honestly started to see a turn around in my life, I used to be in the church choir but left due to my mental health and poor attendance. I came to church and talked to my choir leader about what I had really been going through, understand my troubles she aloud me to sing with my choir in practice, since I do study acting you could guess I loved singing in my choir. When we had finished practise I felt so good and more words came out my mouth that day than it had in a few months. I promised myself from that day I will help myself because no one can help you if you can’t help yourself first. I then entertained a club for acting going there every Wednesday and before I knew it I was slowly getting back to my old happy self. I won’t lie and say their was not nights I wouldn’t cry  but I was moving forward. I can speak for a lot of young people when I say this but honestly performing arts changed my life, being able to be in different persons life and mind really makes you think. It makes you express yourself while boosting your self esteem because I was doing something I loved wholeheartedly. If someone would had told me if I had to do what I had been doing for years to help myself, I wouldn’t believe them because in my dark stage acting was not an answer, if I couldn’t even attend lesson how could I possibly perform in front of people that will just judge me. At the end of this whole experience I realised it was doing what I loved and being surrounded by people who actually want the best for you that saved me and God of course.He showed me my heart true destiny by singing again with my choir, my personal experience doesn’t talk for the many that are still suffering but it’s about finding your right distraction and helping yourself before others help too.

So how can performing improve mental health? I’ll tell you. Performing arts manages your behaviour, process feelings, reduce stress and anxiety while increasing your self-esteem. Creating art can help you to realise feelings that have been lurking in your subconscious, this therefore helping you to really dig deep and remove the known factor that’s haunting your life while replacing it with something that brings light and positivity back into your life. Not only does it do that but it balances your emotions so your less likely to start feeling really low or really happy very quickly as it can cause you to fall back on yourself, having an emotional balance means you can connect with your family and friends without over thinking every word someone says or taking on a crowd without thinking about every head in the crowd is judging you. Even if it’s for a few minutes even drawing can help you take away stress and over thinking because you are being distracted. Being in your thoughts alone can be so hard but honestly if you find something good and pure to your heart it can ease the pain slowly but it’s all worth it in the end.

I’ve heard stories of not just young people but people of all ages entering drama therapy which is provided by the NHS to help manage whatever your mental illness is, forming close friendship and being aloud to be yourself honestly changes you for the better. Clubs like these put on performances all over London to raise awareness about mental health problems and how it effects people which is also inspired by real life experience by the people acting the story. Showing things like that  to crowds not only helps the people acting but the people in the audience who also suffer from the same problems, letting them know they are not alone even if it’s just for a hour or two. Most people with mental health just want to be seen and understood instead of looking like a cast out among peers or the “vibe killer” among friends. Not everyone has the kind of support some others get and that’s why lives are lost and people go to drugs instead of family. Not only can recovery from mental illness make you live longer it also keeps you well and genuinely happy with life, improving most things that where low in your life before finding help. Believing that you can be truly happy honestly takes you a very long way and I know that for a fact.

It’s a known fact that actors are two times as more likely to fall into depression because of stress and mental strain but I believe not everyone that acts, loves doing it, some simply do it for money, fame or simply to be seen in a different light. If everyone could have a job in what they love, I believe the world would be a way more happier, sadly this is reality and we are not given with that choice so if you are good are something people tend to fall back on what they are seen to be good at by others.

Thus this makes some people depressed and upset because it’s not something they would want to do for life, in other words you can’t be happy doing something you don’t love. If you love acting it can be something you share with the world because you genuinely like waking up at six am ready to practices for an up coming show. In this world we have to fight for your dreams like  it’s something that you need to eat or you will not survive. For me acting is like a fire  that I don’t even want to  extinguish because it made me who I am today, the confidence that seems to linger around my whole aura. I feel comfortable doing things that I wouldn’t have months before, all in all I feel relaxed and happy with my current situation in life and hope many others that have been through mental health are already happy and have found their distraction or they are soon close to finding it

To the question I picked about “ how does performing arts improve mental health” I can say that I have spoken on a wide range about why it has improve or even saved lives. While doing research I learnt so many stories that acting doesn’t just help  but it changes and improves most things in your life. So yes acting improves mental health 100%.