 Katsotaan ympäristö ja ajatella, ettei ajatella, ettei ympäristö lähtee viikkoa, koska te olet niin paranoittista, kun ette sinua. Ajatella, ettei ajatella, ettei ajatella, ettei ajatella, ettei ajatella, ja ettei ajatella. Ajatella, kun olet niin ympäristö, sinun ympäristö plan on vain lähtee viikkoa ja ajatella ympäristöä. Jotenkin pitää ajatella. Se on kaikki ympäristö. Olen, tai en ole, yksi ympäristö. Two years ago, I was admitted into a psychiatric hospital because I had lost my touch to the reality. My problems with mental health started way earlier, of course, but I tried to manage alone because I felt ashamed. I felt ashamed for not being able to get up in the morning, ashamed and weak for struggling with everyday things like showering and eating. I felt like it was my fault. I got sick. One of my friends also struggled with her mental health about ten years ago. She was fighting with a difficult bulimia at the time and I did my best to be there for her. When I got sick and I finally told my friend about it, she came and put her arms around me and said, Ilene, you told me once something very important and now it's your time to hear it. It's not your fault. It's like a fever, some just get sick. It's not your fault. Those words hit me hard because I had forgotten I ever said those to her. I cried for hours. I cried because she was right. Anyone can get sick, anyone. In fact, take a good look around in this dark room. Let's say it's 420 of us here. 85 of us have, will have or have had depression or some other mood disorder. Five of us schizophrenia, five of us anorexia and 118 of us an anxiety disorder. Just to mention a few, this is all based on statistics, of course. I don't know your medical history. We haven't secretly gone through it when you walked in. But what I do know is that we are not alone. Depression or some any other mental illness will hit about half of us in our lifetime. We just don't know it because the stigma makes us fall silent. It's hurtful for us, but also for the society. Because of the stigma, we try to hire our sicknesses instead of seeking help. Because of the stigma, society offers us easily early retirement and isolation instead of effective and sufficient care. This stigma cost us millions and millions of euros and sadly so many lives. I learned how to ignore the shame little by little. First by writing poems about it and then by sharing my poems and my feelings with the ones that I trust the most. I found help. My life feels good again, better every day. But the stigma is still there affecting my life and my fears. What if the next time I talk in a study group, someone says, are you sure? Aren't you the one who went a bit crazy? What if I make my friends ashamed or uncomfortable? What if next time I get angry for a good reason, people think, oh, she went crazy again and dismissed me? Most likely people behave better than this. But these are not irrational fears. The stigma follows around us even after the symptoms get better. But we are all just people. Most mental illnesses don't affect our cognition permanently. And so what if they did? We all still have the same value as human beings. We all need love and acceptance. Yet some only get isolation. It's time to change that. It's my time to be a friend to all you that carry around this stigma and tell it's not your fault. Some just get sick. I refuse to feel ashamed or afraid any longer. I had to break this silence. Thank you.