Greenfield native stresses importance of mental hygiene in recent speech

Greenfield native Amanda Cannon, who now resides in the Kansas City area, gave a talk on mental hygiene Monday, Nov. 27 at The Gathering Place, while she was home for Thanksgiving.

Cannon has coined the phrase mental hygiene as someone who has lived with mental illness who now has a passion for helping others who are having similar experiences in life.

In a follow up phone interview after her event, Cannon said mental hygiene deals with understanding the basics of evaluating your own thoughts and emotions, then figuring out triggers that might make you feel that way, and understanding the coping skills that can help you through it.

“We have to start with the basics because I never know what people know,” Cannon said.

Not unlike physical health and physical illness, which are two different things, Cannon explained mental health and mental illness are terms that are too often used interchangeably in society today.

“You brush your teeth daily so you don’t get a gum disease or you wash your hands so you don’t get sick. You want to be self aware so you don’t have bad breath. Mental hygiene is the same way,” Cannon said. “You look at yourself so you have self-awareness of whether or not you have anxiety, and what’s happening.”

About five years ago, Cannon attempted suicide by taking a bottle of pills. Someone near to her at the time helped her through that.

“I attempted suicide because I was being told I was a monster, everybody hated me and people were scared of me,” Cannon said. “I took a bottle of pills and poured it back like I was taking a shot, but the person that was standing there knew how to choke me so that I wouldn’t swallow them but I was still breathing. I spit them out, but that didn’t stop anything. The pain and thoughts were still there.”

While she isn’t suicidal anymore, Cannon still struggles with depression, anxiety, panic attacks and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from prior life experiences. She has additionally been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

Cannon takes medication, sees a therapist and a psychiatrist and says she “isn’t ashamed of it” because she knows her need for it.

“People think PTSD is just for the military, but there are so many people who have it in everyday life that we don’t realize,” Cannon said. “I’m seeing everything in a new light and know when I’m going to have panic attack, when I’m facing anxiety or when I’m feeling depressed, and what to do.”

Cannon’s future goals are to possibly move back to Greenfield and open a motivational speaking business covering mental health topics. She is also a health and life coach. She invites anybody looking for guidance in any of these areas to reach out to her via email at amanda.cannon.speaks@gmail.com.