Inside Out: Ending The Stigma on Mental Illness

source: Cosmopolitan

People from all over the world are participating in a makeup challenge started by a beauty blogger on Youtube to represent their mental illnesses in a way that could help end the stigma against it.

Yasaman Gheidi, a well-known beauty blogger also known as Lilmoonchild, started the project after posting a video on Youtube wherein she painted one side of her face with her depiction of her mental illnesses. Dubbed as the Inside Out Challenge from the critically-acclaimed Disney Movie Inside Out, she encouraged people with mental illnesses to step out of their own shadows and talk about their illnesses openly and end the stigma surrounding it.

The Canada-based blogger says she got the inspiration after a panic attack she had at her company Christmas party, where she
feigned a headache to her colleagues instead of telling them the truth.

“Why did I have to be ashamed and lie about my anxiety attack? So many wonderful and amazing people suffer from the same mental illnesses that I do on a daily basis. Why can’t we just talk about it openly?" says Gheidi.

Since her post last January, thousands of people have joined the challenge on Instagram using the hashtag #insideoutchallenge. These users all shared their own life stories and experiences related to their mental illnesses, and how this is a step towards treating mental illnesses as it deserves to be treated: as an illness and not a quirk. Gheidi is overwhelmed and grateful for the worldwide response.

She posted, “For many people it’s not easy to share a side of oneself that very few people, if any, get to see. It is challenging to look within yourself and explore the emotions and mental struggles that are often hidden away.”

Users are continuously posting and sharing their own life stories with mental illnesses using the #insideoutchallenge hashtag on Instagram and Twitter. "Just by joining the challenge," Gheidi says, "you're already making a difference."