Mental Health Sunday (12 Oct 2025)

 Per my commitment to do something for USCCB mental health Sunday this year, I decided what I will offer is my own testimonial and share it with two people. And that will be it, at least for this year :). And here it goes.

When something tragic happens in society, we as bystanders say it's a mental health thing. "We need more mental health." We don't necessarily blame a person or a social milieu but an illness. Yet when we experience something in our own lives, we blame ourselves and our morals, and we get mad when others ask or show concern for our mental health. There's an incoherence here. And I would like to help elucidate that with my own experiences with mental health in my life and from what I've seen. Maybe we should stop calling it mental health and just start calling it health. The mental part is what we don't like. To be told we are weak when others are merely just trying to assure us we are human. And really, health is a much more apt term at least in my experience because physical health has been a factor. And remedy, when conventional psych has been limited in my experience. Plus, I'm an usual case they say. Doctors haven't been able to explain myself to me. And therapists tell me I'm outside their scope of expertise. So, mental health has been a lot about having to find out myself and be scientific rather than rely on Google searches to give me answers from top search results. The thing about me is when I don't sleep much, I can get a little kooky and people wonder where I get all this energy. It's kind of like the feeling of being drunk. My brain gives me all sorts of interesting and pleasurable feelings and things in life become more comedic. I used to have too much fun with that at the expense of what's truly good for myself. Being Catholic and understanding and experience of true Christian love and values has been the only thing that has helped me navigate through the thick of things and help me see the importance of slowing down, listening for the objective rather than reveling in my solipsism, and paying attention to my health. There's a lot more I can say about this. In the meantime, I hope everyone a beneficial mental/health Sunday 10/12. Thank you. Jeremy Chen.