Discussion

Like every good millennial, I was immersed from a young age in the internet culture where information and gossip travel at the speed of light around the world. In this scenario, many causes have been made visible, among them everything related to** mental disorders and atypical psychologies. We do not have to go as far as a hospital or a foundation to find people who are affected by these diseases and need our support: it can be a neighbor, a friend or a relative. **No one is exempt from suffering under the power of their own mind and the best support is an environment of understanding and open communication to favor the processes that link the cognitive with the social dimension.

Depression can be disguised as laziness or over-smiling, anxiety sometimes masquerades as shyness or stiffness when walking; It is impossible to determine if someone suffers from a mental illness with the naked eye in most cases, and open and non-judgmental dialogue is necessary to encourage people who are distressed to seek professional help.

Humans are immersed in deep ignorance about the experience of others, and this makes it difficult to notice when something is wrong with another person. Given the impossibility of knowing who needs support and understanding, the best thing we can do as members of a society is being sensitive and open about mental health issues, helping to de-stigmatize dialogue and opening channels of communication with people who may be suffering in silence.

Technique

Style transfer layers applied from a handmade pattern form a friend to a photo. Single processing.

From the artist

The person in the picture is my best friend, with her we are very open about talking about deep issues that concern our own feelings. Through this dialogue we built a bridge of trust that helped us recognize certain common problems that we had and allowed us to consider going to a psychologist. There we each learned what it was that afflicted us being in a crowd, why we could not maintain eye contact with new people, why the world out there in most cases was threatening or sometimes uninteresting.

Mental illnesses are not a disadvantage in humans, but a direct consequence of their great intellect and complexity. They are opportunities to better understand ourselves and strengthen social ties through dialogue and understanding.

Models and references

Models

  • Luisa Avendaño
  • Fabian Leonardo (Pattern)