'There is a mental health youth epidemic...'

Today I came across the comments made by Piers Morgan regarding rape and PTSD. I was absolutely disgusted. I have very strong views regarding the awareness of Mental Health issues. I, for one, think Lady Gaga was very brave for admitting that she still suffers from PTSD after a sexual assault. However, Piers Morgan shot her down, rather rudely. He stated that she used PTSD as a ploy to 'promote herself', supporting this with the argument that he has grown up in a military family and he felt that celebrities, such as Gaga, fail to take PTSD seriously.

It has shocked me that in a society that is so advanced, in so many ways, could be so backward in its thinking regarding mental health. It is still something that is so stigmatised that it is painful. I am a hundred percent grateful for anyone that campaigns for the awareness of mental health. It is hard enough to live with any sort of mental health illness, never mind have to deal with oppression in the form of individuals such as Piers Morgan.

This tweet from Gaga was my favourite. She was completely rational in her responses and I admire her for that. I felt a huge amount of rage just reading his ignorant comments. What I appreciated most of all was her openness about mental health and her acknowledgement of mental health and the struggle of youth. Thank you Gaga!

After reading this exchange I did some brief research. I was interested in varying definitions of PTSD. The first definition that google supplied me with used as an example sentence. 'Military Veterans suffering from PTSD'. Needless to say that we live in a society that is, in many ways, incredibly ignorant. That absolutely sucks, for want of a better word.

I have every intention of publishing a separate post regarding the new poetry book I had delivered today. However, I had to finish this post with one of the poems. Additional thanks to Amanda Lovelace for writing this collection.