mental health day

The core value of Mental Health Day has never been a task indicator that can be completed by giving a few lectures and filling out a few questionnaires. It is an "emotional buffering permission" for all ordinary people who are accustomed to hiding their emotions and treating rest as laziness without self-condemnation.

When I was working as an on-site EAP service provider at an Internet company last year, I met a girl who worked on content operations. She had been working on projects for three consecutive months. It was normal to work overtime on weekends. She only dared to take half a day off even if she had a fever, for fear that her boss would think she had "poor ability to withstand stress." When the company held its first half-day mental health day off, she didn't go to the mindfulness experience class organized by the company or go shopping with friends. She turned off her phone and threw it in the hallway. She sat on the sofa and stared at the ceiling for two hours. She cried endlessly for half an hour and didn't even cook.

Later, when she consulted with me, she said that it was the first time in more than half a year that she felt, "It doesn't matter if I don't do anything. No one will say I'm lazy, and I don't have to catch up."

Of course, there’s no end to the complaints about Mental Health Day.

Some people say this is formalism: the school just puts up a banner and takes two photos, and the questionnaire asks "Have you had suicidal tendencies recently?" which makes people frown.； Some companies are even more outrageous. They turn the mental health day into a team building day, requiring everyone to participate in group activities and send check-ins to Moments. I originally wanted to take a break, but instead had an extra task.

Practitioners in different fields have very different judgments on its value: consultants with a clinical psychology background will feel that the greatest significance of this day is to "remove the stigma" - in the past, everyone always thought that raising emotional issues was pretentious and "sick in the heart", but when the entire school and the entire company are discussing "how to take care of one's own emotions", those who are originally embarrassed to ask for help are willing to take an extra step. Researchers in the field of public health believe that one day's activities alone have limited effect. Without a daily psychological support system, such as psychologists who are regularly assigned to schools and EAP consultations that can be made at any time in companies, no matter how many activities are carried out, they will be just a flurry of activity and cannot solve practical problems. Friends who are doing sociology research have told me that Mental Health Day is essentially a small resistance to the current "efficiency theory" - we have been taught for too long that "emotional stability equals no emotion" and "rest equals a waste of time." The existence of this day is to tell everyone openly: taking care of your emotions is as important as completing work and getting good grades.

I have been doing individual counseling for the past five years. Every time around May 25 (which is National College Student Mental Health Day, homophonic to "I love me"), the number of visitors who take the initiative to make an appointment for consultation is about 30% higher than usual. Many people feel a little embarrassed when they come here for the first time, saying, "It just happened to be on this day, so I thought it would be okay to ask." You see, it actually gives people a step up, and they don't have to hold on and say "I'm fine."

Of course, I've also encountered counterproductive situations. Last year, a visitor from the second year of high school came to me and told me that their school held a "Thousand People Smile Check-in" on the mental health day, requiring every student to go on stage to share a recent happy event. He had just broken up with his best friend that day and hadn't eaten much for three days. He couldn't laugh while standing on the stage. The class teacher also talked to him privately, saying that he was "not active enough and did not cooperate with group activities." The first thing he said to me that day was "I feel annoyed hearing the word 'mental health' now."

You see, if you don’t understand that the core is “relaxing people” rather than “achieving targets”, no matter how good the original intention is, it will turn sour.

In fact, to put it bluntly, Mental Health Day is more like the "low battery reminder" on your mobile phone - it will not help you charge, nor will it require you to fully charge it immediately. It will just gently pop up a box to tell you: 20% of the battery is left, you can stop, don't insist on using it until it automatically shuts down, which will damage the battery.

Let me tell you, there really is no need to make this day so serious and formal. There is no need to force yourself to "solve all emotional problems" today, nor do you have to participate in any high-level psychological activities. You just sit at home and eat a popsicle, complain to your friends for half an hour about the bad things you have encountered recently, or even sit by the window for half an hour. As long as you feel that this time is completely your own, and you don't have to please anyone or rush to make any progress, then this mental health day will be worthwhile.