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Researcher: So the first question is, what do you think the role of psychological health is in maintaining physical health? 

Participant: I don’t, I think that if you're not, mentally up to the task you can’t really take care of yourself. It’s like you have to be functioning mentally before you can function physically. Like I know when I’m having a harder week my room falls apart and like I don’t feed myself very well. 

Researcher: yeah

Participant: I either eat a bunch of crap or I eat like nothing, there’s no in between so if you're not taking care of your mental space you can’t take care of your physical body or your physical space

Researcher: yeah, that makes sense. Do you know what the concept of mental health is? 

Participant: yeah, I’m a psych major (laughs) 

Researcher: What is mental health to you?

Participant: Like, what’s in good mental health or what is in general mental health?

Researcher: I guess, just like your interpretation, like what comes to your mind?

Participant: oh okay, um well I think someone who is mentally healthy 

Researcher: mhmm

Participant: can like go with the flow, like I think it’s less about being perfect all the time and more about taking things as they come and like reading yourself and being like “oh okay!”, like adjust course, and not just like, I don’t think anyones perfect or logically. I think it’s just more about adjusting without freaking out? Um

Researcher: uh huh

Participant: um, which is not something I’m good at (laughs) um

Researcher: it’s a struggle

Participant: but yes I don’t think there’s like, people say “neurotypical” all the time and I think neurotypical is more just like being able to adjust to your life in a healthy way. 

Researcher: yeah, because like you can’t avoid challenges

Participant: exactly!

Researcher: How important do you think having access to mental health treatment is? 

Participant: I think it’s super important. I think that it’s hard to find and it’s hard to pay for and most people need it. Like I have never seen anybody about any of my issues and I really should, but I just haven’t because it’s hard to do, it takes too much time, too much money, don’t want to tell my parents about it because I’m financially dependent

Researcher: yeah

Participant: a bunch of stuff like that, so it’s not accessible but..

Researcher: and that kind of flows into my next question, do you think you personally have access to adequate mental health care? 

Participant: I think, access to it, yeah. I wish it was more talked about. Like I wish there was somebody being like “hey come here for a free screening” or “here is where you can go and pay a student price for therapy”, cause no one talks about it like that. But I mean like, Technically, I have access to it, like if I asked I have money to go, I have a supportive family, like I have supportive friends, like that’s not that issue. I just, I wouldn’t even know where to start, and there’s a community social block, rather than a financial or physical block. We live in California, like it’s everywhere, like that’s not the problem. 

Researcher: yeah, I see what you’re saying that makes a lot of sense. In what situations or conditions do you think mental health care is necessary? Like, do you feel like it’s something that needs to happen all the time or are there specific situations? 

Participant: I think like certain things can happen to you where you should definitely be recommended to a therapist, like any type of severe trauma or stuff like that is kind of a more obvious answer, but i think that like if you’re just kind of feeling off, or if you’re feeling like life is really hard for like an anxiety or depression or for any reason you're just not feeling quite normal, or you wanna talk to someone about it that doesn’t know you and isn’t going to just be like “ah, you’re fine”, 

Researcher: Then it’s important?

Participant: I don’t know, it’s kind of a personal case-by-case basis. Like I’m definitely more on the train of “everyone if they can then they should go”. At some point in their life even if they are like “okay”.

Researcher: would you recommend someone seeking mental health care if they were experiencing stress or a change in lifestyle, would that fall under your umbrella of needing treatment? 

Participant: yeah i think any major life stressor, like I don't tend to think of the stressful things that happen to me as major life stressors but when we were in our field study thing for example, the first week I told Cardilla that one of my pets had passed away she was like, “that’s a major life stressor”. And I was like “is it really? Because I’m stressed but I didn't think about it like that” We’re so conditioned to be like “no. it’s fine” and think that those kind of things are fine, but it is a life stressor.

Researcher: Would you reccomend seeking mental health treatment if you or someone you knew was having throughts of suicide of self-harm? 

Participant: oh for sure. 100%

Researcher: and how about visual hallucinations or hearing voices?

Participant: yeahhhh. And not even in a way that I think these people are dangerous, just if that is something that freaks you out, you should go.

Researcher: yeah yeah. Do you  think you’d be able to recognize a mental health or emotional problem in a friend or relative?

Participant: Um, it depends on how obvious it is. Because I think that some people are really sneaky, I know that I’m really sneaky. I know that some people who we kow, uh it’s pretty obvious when they’re not okay, but some people it’s less obvious. Kind of, is my answer to that. 

Researcher: and you said that you haven't seen someone, as in a mental health professional? 

Participant: Not that I can remember, so no

Researcher: and I know you talked a little bit about why, you don’t have to elaborate if you don’t have to.

Participant: yeah it’s really just that I could totally ask my parents but it makes me feel bad spending their money on it if I think it’s something I can handle myself. And I know that’s not right, saying it out loud sounds wrong. 

Researcher: would you ever consider going to a mental health professional?

Participant: yeah, I would really like a generalized anxiety diagnosing. I know I have it, everyone knows I have it but like I could actually get resources and stuff if someone told me that I had it. 

Researcher: that makes sense, that connects to the access side of things

Participant: yeah, but also if I already know I have it and everyone is gentle with me, I’m pretty vocal about it it’s just like why? It seems like a lot of money to spend on something I already know I have. I think if it was something struggling more with, or if I was like “what the fuck is wrong with me”, then I’d probably go and be more inclined. But I know what’s “wrong” with me. 

Researcher: Would you consider going for treatment? Even if you already know, or would you go just for the diagnosis. 

Participant: I think if it got to the point that I was like not functioning, then I would go. And be like, hey help me manage my life please because I don’t know what’s happening anymore, but so far I’ve found it fairly manageable. I have occasional days where all i can do is lay around and freak out but like maybe that doesn't sound functional to a normal person, but to me it seems functional because most days I’m fine. I feel like I can always dig myself out of the hole, but like treatment would be awesome, i just don't want to pay for it. 

Researcher: Do you think some people need treatment more than others? 

Participant: yes, but they might not feel it. Some people from a societal point of view, as a functional part of a community, being a danger to oneself or others seems like a higher priority than someone who just might be nervous. It might not be good, but is less of a danger risk. 

Researcher: Why do you think mental health issues or mental illness occur?

Participant: all different reasons, I’m very nature and nurture together. You can look at people who have chemical imbalance or someone who has experienced severe trauma, those are going to be two very different people because those are very different life experiences. And it depends on what the mental health issue is because they are all caused by different things. 

Researcher: Do you think age and mental health care are related in anyway?

Participant: I think the different life stages have different stressors. I think that, I’d have to look at demographics. I think that dementia is mostly an older person thing, but many millenials and gen z are suffering from ADHD, anxiety, and depression, like crazy. But older people might have that too they’re just not going and getting diagnosed.

Researcher: So do you think there’s like a generational gap there?

Participant: there might be, just a different way of looking at mental health. Like we seem to do more teaching about how mental health is important but i can’t be sure.

Researcher: Do you think that your mental health has changed with your age?

Participant: yes. I think with our major, I’ve known more. But as I’ve aged I’ve also suffered through very different things.

 

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