Stop Stigma: Inspiring Quotes About Mental Health

May 12, 2018 • By GoodTherapy Staff

This Mental Health Awareness Month, GoodTherapy seeks to emphasize that mental health is a human experience. Symptoms and circumstances of mental health concerns come in nearly unlimited variation. But they are, above all, a normal part of being alive. We must care for not only our bodies, but also our emotions and thoughts.

We have gathered here a selection of quotes about mental health. These are encouraging words about overcoming obstacles, seeking help, and stopping shame. You can share any of these images on your social media profiles or download them for your own use. To help spread awareness this mental health month, you can use the hashtags #MHAM2019 and #4Mind4Body.

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“Many survivors insist they’re not courageous: ‘If I were courageous I would have stopped the abuse.’ ‘If I were courageous, I wouldn’t be scared’… Most of us have it mixed up. You don’t start with courage and then face fear. You become courageous because you face your fear.” ― Laura Davis

“I keep moving ahead, as always, knowing deep down inside that I am a good person and that I am worthy of a good life.” ― Jonathan Harnisch

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” — John Green

“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside—remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.” — Charles Bukowski

“Deep breathing is our nervous system’s love language.” — Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy

“It is not the bruises on the body that hurt. It is the wounds of the heart and the scars on the mind.” — Aisha Mirza

Change what you can, manage what you can’t. — Raymond McCauley

“Mental health…is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going.” — Noam Shpancer, PhD

“You are the one thing in this world, above all other things, that you must never give up on. When I was in middle school, I was struggling with severe anxiety and depression and the help and support I received from my family and a therapist saved my life. Asking for help is the first step. You are more precious to this world than you’ll ever know.” — Lili Reinhart

Quotes About Positive Mental Health to Give You Strength

“Increasing the strength of our minds is the only way to reduce the difficulty of life.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” ― Henry David Thoreau

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” ― Leonard Cohen

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” — Aristotle

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls, the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

— Khalil Gibran

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go, they merely determine where you start.”

— Nido Qubein

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.” — Amy March, from Little Women

“Promise me you’ll always remember — you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh

“I am bent, but not broken. I am scarred, but not disfigured. I am sad, but not hopeless. I am tired, but not powerless. I am angry, but not bitter. I am depressed, but not giving up.” — Anonymous

Mental Health Quotes from Celebrities

“I understand your pain. Trust me, I do. I’ve seen people go from the darkest moments in their lives to living a happy, fulfilling life. You can do it too. I believe in you. You are not a burden. You will never be a burden.” — Sophie Turner

“Mental health is something that we all need to talk about, and we need to take the stigma away from it. So let’s raise the awareness. Let’s let everybody know it’s OK to have a mental illness and addiction problem.” — Demi Lovato

If you have been brutally broken but still have the courage to be gentle to other living beings, then you’re a badass with a heart of an angel. — Keanu Reeves

I found that with depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone. You’re not the first to go through it; you’re not going to be the last to go through it. — Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)

“Anyone can be affected, despite their level of success or their place on the food chain. In fact, there is a good chance you know someone who is struggling with it since nearly 20% of American adults face some form of mental illness in their lifetime. So why aren’t we talking about it?” — Kristen Bell

“I go to therapy. It’s just one of the most important things — to get to know yourself. Not saying everyone in the world has to do it, but I do think that it’s helped me understand myself and my childhood a lot better.” In a conversation about her Bipolar Disorder battle.- Selena Gomez

“There is a lot of shame attached to mental illness, but it’s important that you know that there is hope and a chance for recovery.”-Lady Gaga

“If my revelation of having bipolar II has encouraged one person to seek help, then it is worth it. There is no need to suffer silently and there is no shame in seeking help. –Catherine Zeta-Jones

“I was with someone recently who asked: ‘Well, don’t you think that if you do too much therapy it will take away your artistic process?’ And I told them: ‘The biggest lie that we’ve ever been sold is that we as artists have to stay in pain to create.’” — Katy Perry

Quotes About Depression

“Depression weighs you down like a rock in a river. You don’t stand a chance. You can fight and pray and hope you have the strength to swim, but sometimes, you have to let yourself sink. Because you’ll never know true happiness until someone or something pulls you back out of that river — and you’ll never believe it until you realize it was you, yourself who saved you.” ― Alysha Speer

“You say you’re ‘depressed’ – all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective – it just means you’re human.” ― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say, ‘My tooth is aching’ than to say, ‘My heart is broken.’ ― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

“Others imply that they know what it is like to be depressed because they have gone through a divorce, lost a job, or broken up with someone. But these experiences carry with them feelings. Depression, instead, is flat, hollow, and unendurable. It is also tiresome. People cannot abide being around you when you are depressed. They might think that they ought to, and they might even try, but you know and they know that you are tedious beyond belief: you are irritable and paranoid and humorless and lifeless and critical and demanding and no reassurance is ever enough. You’re frightened, and you’re frightening, and you’re ‘not at all like yourself but will be soon,’ but you know you won’t.” ― Kay Redfield Jamison

“The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of the world but those who fight and win battles that others do not know anything about.” — Jonathan Harnisch

“Depression, suffering and anger are all part of being human.” – Janet Fitch

“I didn’t want my picture taken because I was going to cry. I didn’t know why I was going to cry, but I knew that if anybody spoke to me or looked at me too closely the tears would fly out of my eyes and the sobs would fly out of my throat and I’d cry for a week. I could feel the tears brimming and sloshing in me like water in a glass that is unsteady and too full.” ― Sylvia Plath

“I need one of those long hugs where you kinda forget whatever else is happening around you for minute.” — Marilyn Monroe

“So many people look at [my depression] as me being ungrateful, but that is not it — I can’t help it. There’s not much that I’m closed off about, and the universe gave me all that so I could help people feel like they don’t have to be something they’re not or feel like they have to fake happy. There’s nothing worse than being fake happy.” — Miley Cyrus

“The pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne. The prevention of many suicides will continue to be hindered until there is a general awareness of the nature of this pain.” ― William Styron

Quotes About Anxiety

“My anxiety doesn’t come from thinking about the future but from wanting to control it.” — Hugh Prather

“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” —Virginia Woolf

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” —Epictetus

“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” — Charles Spurgeon

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength-carrying two days at once. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” – Corrie Ten Boom

“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” —Charles Spurgeon

“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” ―Soren Kierkegaard

“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” — Walter Anderson

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

“You don’t have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you.” —Dan Millman

Mental Health Quotes About Self-Care and Taking Care of Your Mind

“Every one of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves.” — Princess Diana

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” — Mark Twain

“Self-care is how you take your power back.” — Lalah Delia

“Self-care is one of the active ways that I love myself. When you can and as you can, in ways that feel loving, make time and space for yourself.”

— Tracee Ellis Ross

“Self-care is so much more than a beauty regimen or an external thing you do. It has to start within your heart to know what you need to navigate your life. A pedicure doesn’t last, but meditating every day does.”

— Carrie Anne Moss

“To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.” — Sandra Bierig

“Loving yourself isn’t vanity. It’s sanity.” — Katrina Mayer

“With every act of self-care your authentic self gets stronger, and the critical, fearful mind gets weaker. Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am on my side, I am on my side, each day I am more and more on my own side.”

— Susan Weiss Berry

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.” — Coco Chanel

“It’s okay to take time for yourself. We give so much of ourselves to others, and we need to be fueled both physically and mentally. If we are in balance, it helps us in all our interactions.”

— Faith Hill

Reminders That This Too Shall Pass

“We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken.” — John Green

“You’re going to go through tough times – that’s life. But I say, ‘Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.’ See the positive in negative events. “- Joel Osteen

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor. — Thich Nhat Hanh

“There is no standard normal. Normal is subjective. There are seven billion versions of normal on this planet. — Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” — Og Mandino

“This is the ending. Now not day only shall be beloved, but night too shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away.”- J. R. R. Tolkien

“I learned there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead, others come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready, you see. Now my troubles are going to have trouble with me.” – Dr. Seuss

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising whenever we fall.” – Confucius

Many people find themselves personally involved with the topic of mental health. We may be affected when a loved one experiences a mental health issue. Knowing what to say, how to act, or what we can do to help is not always clear. Other times, we might be the one who is struggling. Anxiety, depression, trauma—these conditions and others have affected billions around the world and throughout history.

Talking about mental health can give us freedom to seek help, find people who can relate, and move toward well-being. Let’s continue the conversation about mental health. Together, we can work to stop the stigma surrounding issues many of us face!

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