Talking to Friends about Mental Health

almondbutter5

Hey everyone. First time posting here. What do you all think about telling friends about mental health? For me at least, I find it so uncomfortable, I've only told a few people, and even then that was a huge thing for me. The people I've told always came to me first saying they were anxious, and only then did I feel comfortable sharing that I am anxious too. I feel really uncomfortable opening up to people about my anxiety, I don't know why. I have this feeling that mental health is still very taboo. Maybe it's from my family, I don't know.

But then at the same time I feel incredibly lonely that no one sees my mental health difficulties, because I hide it so well. It's pretty crazy, when people ask me how I am, I just say I'm fine, because it's easier to say that than to overshare, and then NO ONE knows how I'm really feeling.

I am waiting to have counselling as talking it out is something I find really helpful but right now I have no one to talk to. My parents don't really understand about mental health. Every time I tell them I'm stressed, they just tell me off, saying I need to learn how to cope with stressful situations, or they try to give me productivity tips so I can be more productive at work. That's not always what I want, though. Most of the time I just want to TALK ABOUT IT.

My parents say I should reach out to my friends. But I am reluctant to just start randomly telling my friends because I don't want to start crying on them every time, and also, I don't want my friends to think I'm relying on them as my therapist. I don't want to be that friend who always comes with a new mental health problem and casts a cloud of depression over the café table. I really don't. Can I ask what you guys think about this?