Physical & Mental Health: Do We Judge Them Differently?

Jamila Risvi was 31 when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Key points:

Confiding in friend Rosie Waterland, who’d suffered PTSD and depression for years, the friends found they were supported in their illness differently because of a perceived distinction between mental and physical ill-health.

“As a community we take physical ill-health far more seriously,” Jamila told Hope 103.2’s UNDISTRACTED podcast.

“We support people in our lives far better when they’re physically unwell rather than mentally unwell.”

In their book Broken Brains, Jamila and Rosie walk us through their diagnoses and the nuances of the medical system, while revealing the effects of illness on our family and identity.

“As a community we take physical ill-health far more seriously,” Jamila said.

Jamila’s tumor and the ongoing interventions it required isolated her from other young people, who couldn’t relate to something that “normally doesn’t happen until you’re older”.

“Physical vulnerability was unusual,” Jamila said.

“None of my friends [were] talking about these experiences.”

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by

Broken Brains is a companion through the journey of illness of any kind.

Seven years on from Jamila’s tumor first being discovered she’s had multiple surgeries to curb its growth and remove what can be safely, but still, there’s consequences.

“I do wish I’d asked some more questions about life beyond surgery,” Jamila said.

Due to the location of the tumor and vital functions potentially affected by it, Jamila “kept having to have different interventions”.

“As a result of some of those where doctors had to be more aggressive that started to do damage to my brain,” Jamila said.

Jamila and Rosie’s hope is that Broken Brains is a companion through the journey of illness of any kind, addressing the “false binary” between mental and physical sickness that isolates many.

Listen to this episode of UNDISTRACTED in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.

“It doesn’t matter what kind [of illness] it is, it’s all interlinked,” Jamila said.

“I doubt there’s anyone who’s had a physical illness that hasn’t affected them mentally, or a mental illness that hasn’t resulted in physical symptoms.”

Repeated hospital visits can be exhausting, but there’s a deeper kindness it can give us too.

“One of my really good friends [said] the day I was diagnosed, ‘You don’t know it, but this is going to change you for the better’,” Jamila said.

“’Empathy is going to be your new superpower’.”

Listen to this episode of UNDISTRACTED in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.

Feature image: Cover photo used with permission