A sign of the times

I was at a first aid course the last two days. 2 days of talking about illness and injury and life-threatening situations. In the 2 days, there were exactly 2 mentions of mental illness, and ONLY because the instructor really like tangents. He once mentioned anorexia and once a drug overdose as a suicide attempt. And yet he spent an inordinate amount of time explaining how diabetes works.

It got me thinking about how we look at mental illness in our world. It seems to me that a first aid course would be a good place to have at least some discussion about mental illness as the effects can easily be life-threatening. No talk of what to do if you find someone who is talking about or threatening suicide or self- harm. These are important things and easily things first aiders might have to deal with. I know because I called 911 and watched others restraining someone who was trying to jump off a bridge. I know know mental illness is complicated, but I really believe a basic understanding is important for first aiders.

So, what does this say about how, as a society, we see mental illness? For me it says a few things. We see mental illness as different from physical illness. We also see mental illness as something we don't want to talk about. Only people affected by mental illness need to know about it. But, we are all affected I some way.

I don't know if mental illness will ever be covered in first aid courses. But I did make the suggestion.