Openness, the silver lining to mental health
INDUSTRY MARKETING ANZ AT FACEBOOK • CATHERINE BOWE
Over time I got better at managing my mental health with exercise and being open with friends and family.
My father was in the army and served during the Vietnam War. Like so many servicemen who have been subjected to the horrors of a war zone, he returned home carrying a massive burden — post– traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In the 1970s, mental health, and PTSD in particular, were not things people talked about. Especially a former army corporal living in a rural community.
Over the next two decades he suffered in silence, feeling isolated, suffering nightmares, a sense of disconnection, panic, fear, depression, anxiety — he felt alone. Ultimately, on 5 March 1990, my father committed suicide.
To say the
