• “So, you’re bi-polar?” Don’t define a person using their mental condition. Instead, say, “So, you’ve been diagnosed with a bi-polar condition?” • “If you stop dating losers, you won’t feel this way.” Blaming a person for their mental health disorder does nothing good. Quick read: • When talking to someone diagnosed with a mental health disorder, respect and compassion must be at the forefront. • Ask questions that don’t assume, judge, and condescend. • Don’t blame and compare. Neither should you minimize their struggle. Sources: Paccial, R. (2021, July 15). Learning Sessions on the Right to Mental Health—CHR: Dignity of All [Webinar]. Commission on Human Rights. National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d.) Tips For How to Help a Person with Mental Illness. https:// www.nami.org/Get-Involved/NAMI-FaithNet/Tips-For-How-to-Help-a-Person-with-Mental-Illness Rogers Behavioral Health. (2019, November 14). What to Say and What Not to Say to Someone with a Mental Illness. https://rogersbh.org/about-us/newsroom/blog/what-say-and-what-not-say-someonemental-health-condition Silent Skills You Need to Effectively Communicate About Mental Health For eight hours a day every day for almost three months in 2010, performance artist Marina Abramović sat still on a wooden chair in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She invited strangers to, one by one, sit across a table from her and silently gaze into her eyes for however long they wanted. This was part of Abramović’s performance entitled The Artist is Present. Participants sat with her anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour and a half. Most got up with tears in their eyes. “It was a complete surprise,” said Abramović later on. “This enormous need of humans to actually have contact.” With her performance, Abramović wanted to demonstrate how an event that was stretched beyond what was acceptable altered people’s perception of time. Beyond that, Abramović successfully (albeit inadvertently) showed how silence is a significant part of communication. When a person reaches out to you for help in their mental health struggles, what you don’t say is equally important as what you do say. Rodelen Paccial, M.D., a practicing psychiatrist, explains how each of the following three nonverbal methods of communication enriches your approach to mental health. 37 38